anxa 
87-B 
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Architecture  ^' 


under 


Nattonaltsm, 


BY 

J.  PICKERING  PUTNAM 

MEMBER  OF  THE  BOSTON  SOCIETY  OF  ARCHITECTS. 


B  O  S  T  D  N 

1 

.T  I  C  K  N  O  R        C:  0  M  P  A  N  V 

911  Fremont  Street 

1S91 

THE  NATIONALIST. 


A  monthly  magazine  devoted  to  the  Nationalization  of  Industry  and 
thereby  the  promotion  of  the  Brotherhood  of  Humanity. 

Edited  by  John  Stoker  Cobb. 

This  is  the  only  magazine  in  the  United  States  dedicated  to  the  dis- 
cussion and  dissemination  of  the  principles  of  nationalism.  It  has  among 
its  contributors  many  representative  men  and  women,  among  whom  may 
be  mentioned  Edward  Bellamy,  Edward  Everett  Hale,  Thaddeus  B. 
Wakeman,  Mary  A.  Livermore,  Charlotte  Perkins  Stetson,  Sylvester 
Baxter,  Henry  Austin,  Rev.  Solomon  Schindler,  Abby  Morton  Diaz, 
J.  Foster  Biscoe,  and  others  who  would  make  too  long  a  list  of  distin- 
guished names  for  insertion  here. 

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Subscription  price,  $2.00  a  year.    Single  numbers,  20  cents. 

PUBLISHED  BY 

The  Nationalist  Educational  Association, 

BOSTON,  MASS. 


/ 


ARCHITECTURE 

UNDER 

NATIONALISM 


BY 

J.  PICKERING  PUTNAM 

MEMBER  OF  THE  BOSTON  SOCIETY  OF  ARCHITECTS 
Author  of 

"  The  Principles  of  House  Drainage"  "  The  Open  Fire-Place  in  All  Ages" 
"  Improved  Plumbing  Appliances  "  etc.  etc. 


SECOND  EDITION 


BOSTON 
TICKNOR  &  COMPANY 

211  Fremont  Stmt 

1891 


Copyrighted. 


PI  BLISHED  BY  PERMISSION  OF 

THR  AMERICAN  ARCHITECT. 


Architecture  Under  Nationalism. 


NATIONALISM  may  be  defined  as 
the  substitution  of  universal  coopera- 
tion and  education  for  industrial  and 
social  warfare.  It  is  a  continuation  of 
the  evolutionary  force  -which  has  raised 
man  from  the  lower  to  the  highest  form 
of  terrestrial  beings.  It  is  so  strictly 
logical  and  practical  in  all  its  aspects  ;  so 
impartial  in  its  benefits  to  all  classes  ; 
has  already  crept  so  deeply  into  the 
minds  and  hearts  of 
thinking  people  in 
both  continents,  and 
has  made  such 
remarkable  pro- 
gress of  late,  in  this 
country,  especially 
on  the  Pacific  coast, 
in  arousing  the  people  to  definite  action  with  a  view  to  hastening  its 
practical  introduction,  that  we  are  forced  to  believe  the  present 
generation  will  see  a  great  change  in  the  social  organism  due  to  its 
influence.  Nevertheless,  there  still  exist  many  curious  popular  mis- 
conceptions as  to  its  principles ;  and  it  is  necessary  to  refer  briefly 
to  these,  before  entering  upon  the  consideration  of  the  particular 
branch  of  the  subject  we  have  chosen. 

Perhaps  the  most  common  error  in  the  popular  conception  of 
Nationalism  is  that  it  will  benefit  chiefly,  if  not  only,  the  poorer 
classes,  increasing  their  wealth  at  the  expense  of  the  richer.  Where- 
as, a  close  study  of  its  principles  will  clearly  show  that  the  wealthiest 
will  in  many  respects,  be  the  greatest  gainers,  not  alone  because, 
without  the  least  diminution  of  their  material  possessions,  they  will 
be  freed  from  association  with  a  great  unwashed  and  untutored  pub- 
lic whom  they  both  dislike  and  fear,  but  also  on  account  of  the  many 
dangers  and  responsibilities  inseparable  from  extraordinary  wealth. 


2 


For  eighteen  hundred  years,  at  least,  it  has  been  pronounced  a  diffi- 
cult feat  for  a  man  possessing  wealth  much  greater  than  that  of  his 
neighbors  to  enter  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven,  which  would  seem  to  in- 
dicate that  Heaven  is  not  a  plutocracy  but  rather  a  commonwealth. 

Another  popular  error,  based  on  the  first,  is  that  the  jjrincipal  im- 
pediment to  the  introduction  of  nationalism  is  selfishness,  particularly 
on  the  part  of  the  "  capitalists"  who  control  the  machinery  of  produc- 
tion. For,  since  it  is  easy  for  any  one  who  will  investigate  the  subject,  to 
see  that  all,  without  exception,  will  beimmensely  benefited  thereby,  it 
becomes  clear  that  the  real  impediment  is  ignorance,  and  that  selfish- 
ness will  have  the  very  opposite  effect,  and  greatly  aid  its  introduc- 
tion as  soon  as  this  ignorance  is  removed. 

Finally  it  is  an  error  to  suppose  that  nationalists  either  desire  or 
require  to  appropriate,  without  just  recompense,  for  the  common 
use,  property  which  is  now  possessed  by  individuals ;  to  remove  from 
office  efficient  workers  in  any  calling ;  or  to  disturb  the  wheels  of 
industry  by  any  sudden,  ill-considered  action.  The  successful 
business  man  will  retain  all  the  advantages  his  industry  and  thrift 
have  brought  him,  with  this  immeasurable  gain,  that  he  will  be  free 
from  all  worries  and  burdensome  responsibilites  now  necessarily 
connected  with  them. 

Considered  in  its  relation  to  the  architectural  art,  I  propose  to 
review,  first  the  general,  and  then  the  specific  advantages  which 
nationalism  will  bring;  and,  in  this  material  age,  we  may  appropri- 
ately consider  the  material  advantages  first  and  the  intellectual  and 
moral  ones  afterwards. 

That  industrial  cooperation  ehormously  increases  the  economy  of 
production  is  evident,  and  the  trusts  and  great  combinations  of  to- 
day seem  created  for  the  useful  purpose  of  presenting  to  the  world 
striking  practical  illustrations  of  the  fact.  But  the  extent  to  which 
that  increase  would  be  carried  by  a  cooperation  which  is  general 
throughout  the  nation,  is  likely  to  exceed  the  expectations  of  the 
most  enthusiastic.  With  the  imperfect  statistics  provided  us  at  the 
present  time,  it  is  impossible  to  obtain  anything  more  than  approxi- 
mate figures.  But  a  safe  minimum  of  gain  may  be  reached,  and  even 
this  minimum  seems  at  first  statement  so  monstrous  that  1  have 
repeatedly  refused  to  accept  my  own  deductions,  until  again  and 
again  forced  to  do  so  by  the  overpowering  weight  of  evidence. 

I  am  convinced  that  it  is  understating  the  facts  to  say  that  at  least 
nine-tenths  of  the  energy  exerted  to-day  is  utterly  wasted ;  or  that, 
in  other  words,  this  country  would  produce  ten  times  as  much  wealth 
annually  under  Nationalism  with  the  same  quality  of  machinery  as  it 
does  to-day. 

Authorities  do  not  entirely  agree  as  to  the  aggregate  amount  of 
wealth  annually  produced  in  the  United  States.  Mr.  Joseph  JJimmo, 
Jr.,  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Statistics,  estimates  the  total  value  of  the 
annual  product  of  the  last  census  year,  1880,  as  over  ten  thousand 
million  dollars.  Mr.  Edward  Atkinson  placed  it  at  somewhat  under 
ten  thousand  millions,  but  presents  some  very  ingenious  and  con- 
vincino-  considerations  which  show  that  his  estimates  are  not  likely 
to  be  too  high  (see  Atkinson's  ''Distribution  of  Products  "  published 
by  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons,  New  York,  1885). 

The  various  items  making  up  this  total  may  be  estimated  as 
follows : 


3 


Manufactures  :— 

Total  value  of  products  of  manufactures  as  given  in  the  U.  S. 
Census  Report  for  1880,  after  deducting  the  value  of  the 
materials  (which  are  included  under  the  subsequent  headings.)...  1,972,756,6*^ 

Agriculture:  — 

Estimate  of  Mr.  J.  R.  Dodge,  Statistician  of  the  Department 


of  Agriculture  of  the  United  States   3,720,331 ,422 

Illuminating  gas  (partly  estimated).   From  Mr.  Nimmo's  figures...  30,000,000 

Mining    236,275,408 

Forestry   455,000,000 

Fisheries   43,046,053 

Petroleum  (Manufactured  Product)   44,000,000 


Value  of  all  materials  Avhich  are  not  included  in  the  above:.  . 
Products  of  Home  Worli  of  Women,  and  of  Factories  producing.  . 
less  than  $500.00  not  included  in  the  Census;  Buildings,  Books,... 
Newspapers,  Works  of  Art  and  Education,  Manufactures  of... 
Railroad  Companies,  and  sundry  other  i:ems   3,500,000,000 

Total   10,007,409,525 

Assuming  this  estimate  of  ten  thousand  milHons  to  be  approxi- 
mately correct  for  the  total  wealth  production  of  1880,  a  ten-fold  in- 
crease under  nationalism  would  raise  the  national  wealth  to  a 
hundred  thousand  millions.  This  amount,  paid  yearly  in  dividends 
to  the  fifty  million  citizens  of  the  same  census  year,  as  stockholders 
in  the  great  national  corporation,  would  give  each  an  annual  income 
of  $2,000,  and  as  a  dollar  under  nationalism  will  go  at  least  twice  as 
far  as  the  same  amount  under  the  competitive  S}  stem,  on  account  of 
the  fact  that  all  education  and  countless  objects  of  entertainment  and 
luxury,  now  attainable  only  by  the  very  rich,  will  be  furnished  the 
people  by  the  nation  free,  this  amount  will  have  a  value  very  much 
greater.  Yet  a  still  more  important  consideration  in  giving  real 
value  to  this  income  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  whole  of  it  may  be,  and 
is  expected  to  be,  enjoyed  each  year  without  anxiety  for  the  future. 
A  dollar  which  may  be  spent  is  worth  two  which  must  be  laid  up,  and 
we  shall  see  as  we  proceed  that  our  income  becomes  again  much 
greater  in  actual  pleasure  and  profit-producing  capacity.  All  expen- 
ditures for  charities  of  every  kind,  and  all  for  mere  ostentation  will 
evidently  cease  to  be  required  under  Nationalism ;  neither  charity 
nor  ostentation  having  any  place  there,  and  the  extinction  of  these 
two  factors  will  wonderfully  modify  men's  ideas  as  to  the  importance 
of  a  large  income. 

Moreover,  almost  exactly  half  the  population  of  the  United  States 
according  to  the  last  census,  were  under  twenty-one  years  of  age, 
and  about  a  quarter  were  under  ten  years  of  age.  Assuming  that 
infants  and  youths  will  require  a  smaller  dividend  than  adults,  there 
will  be  a  large  surplus  each  year  to  be  devoted  partly  to  increasing 
the  dividend  of  the  adults  and  partly  to  i3aying  the  expenses  of 
education  and  making  public  improvements  which  will  be  sources 
of  profit  and  pleasure  free  to  all  and  thus  reduce  the  need  of  money 
for  each. 

Two  people  uniting  in  marriage  will  double  this  yearly  means  of 
support,  and,  moreover,  every  child  born  to  them  will  still  further 
increase  the  financial  stability  of  the  household. 

Let  us  examine  some  of  the  principal  wastes  due  to  the  existing 
industrial  system, and  see  if  the  above  estimates  can  be  substantiated. 


I 


DEFINE  wasted  energy  as 
that  wliich  produces  no  useful' 
results,  and  arrive  at  the  esti- 
mate of  waste  upon  which  I  have 
based  my  calculations  as  follows  : 
First  comes  a  great  loss  in  our 
distributing  system.  In  the  year 
of  our  last  census,  there  were  over 
three  hundred  dry-goods  distri- 
buting stores  in  Boston  alone,  five 
hundred  shoe  stores,  and  over  a 
thousand  grocers'  shops,  where  a 
single  one  under  Nationalism 
would  have  sufficed  for  each, 
combined  with  a  few  central 
sample-buildings  for  the  display 
of  all  the  goods  used  by  the 
nation.  Accordingly  a  very  small 
percentage  of  the  outlay  and 
persons  employed  in  distributing 
these  goods  in  Boston,  would 
have  sufficed  for  the  work. 
In  the  United  States,  in  1880,  more  than  a  tenth  of  the  whole 
working  population  of  seventeen  million  people  spent  their 
whole  working  time  in  selling  and  distributing  goods.  But  a  small 
fraction  of  this  great  army  would  have  sufficed,  under  Nationalism, 
to  have  done  the  work  and  to  have  done  it  infinitely  more  satisfac- 
torily. This  whole  army  of  tradesmen,  commercial  drummers  and 
peddlers  would  be  transferred  to  the  field  of  useful  production.  A 
simple  system  of  reliable  national  ilkistrated  catalogues,  alphabeti- 
cally arranged,  of  all  the  goods  used  by  the  people  would  take  the 
place  of  the  very  unreliable  travelling  drummers.  A  few  sample- 
stores  with  a  number  of  distributing  stores  in  each  city  or  county, 
would  take  the  place  of  the  myriads  of  shops  now  required. 

The  national  catalogues  become  practical  cyclopgedias  of  the  most 
perfect  form,  giving  concise  scientific  descriptions  of  every  article 
known  and  used  in  the  nation,  with  its  actual  value,  the  few  fluctua- 
tions in  cost  being  published  periodically  in  separate  sheets  like  the 
discount  sheets  of  our  manufacturers  of  to-day. 

With  these  catalogues  and  the  modern  improvements  in  trans- 
portation enabling  travellers  and  merchandise  to  be  transported 
safely  at  a  speed  of  from  one  to  two  hundred  miles  an  hour  (a  speed 
which  experiments  seem  to  show  will  be  practicable),  the  great 
central  sample  and  distributing  stores  of  the  nation  need  not  be 


0 


duplicated  in  every  large  town.  Methods  of  distributing  merchan- 
dise with  marvellous  l  apidity,  safety  and  economy  have  already  been 
devised,  and  a  system  which  will  now  deliver  packages  with  almost 
lightning  speed  about  a  large  city  will  equally  conveniently  dis- 
tribute them  within  a  radius  of  ten  or  twenty  miles  with  a  very 
ti'illing  increase  of  time  in  transit.  Accordingly  the  great  national 
sample  and  distributing  stores,  placed  at  a  few  convenient  points  in 
-each  State  or  National  District,  with,  perhaps,  small  receiving- 
stations  in  each  town,  will  supply  all  the  intervening  territory  with 
the  greatest  ease  and  convenience,  and  a  few  hundred  such  centres 
would  suffice  for  the  entire  country. 

Careful  estimates  place  the  cost  of  the  commercial  travellers  alone 
in  this  country  at  over  a  billion  dollars  a  year,  (see  last  chapter). 

In  view  of  tlie  above  considerations,  I  think  it  safe  to  place  the 
waste  of  energy  under  the  competitive  system  due  to  the  item  of  dis- 
tribution at  one-tenth,  at  least,  of  the  whole  amount  exerted. 

The  next  great  loss  of  energy  comes  from  the  increased  labor  re- 
quired of  every  citizen  in  the  effort  to  supply  his  wants  in  purchas- 
ing the  goods  furnished  by  the  unscientific  distributing  system  just 
considered. 

A  single  instance  taken  from  a  single  department  of  a  single  in- 
dustry must  serve  for  illustration,  and  no  more  representative  in- 
dustry could  be  selected  than  that  which  forms  the  subject  of  our 
paper. 

An  architect  desires  and  is  expected  to  provide  his  client  with  the 
best  of  everything  the  market  affords  up  to  the  extent  of  the  appro- 
priation. Here  the  conscientious  architect  finds  one  of  the  greatest 
and  most  distressing  elements  in  the  practice  of  his  profession,  since 
it  is  utterly  impossible  for  him  ever  to  feel  certain  that  he  has 
fulfilled  his  duty  in  this  respect,  however  great  his  effort.  The 
wisdom  of  a  Solomon  and  strength  of  a  Hercules  would  miserably 
fail  in  the  effort  to  justly  weigh  the  conflicting  claims  for  superiority 
of  a  hundred  competitors  in  each  of  the  thousand  items  of  labor  and 
material  entering  into  the  construction  of  a  modern  house.  The  in- 
ventive genius  of  the  country,  in  spite  of  the  discouraging  effect  of 
a  proverbially  inadequate  reward  for  the  inventor,  still  turns  out  im- 
provements with  marvellous  and  constantly  increasing  rapidity ;  the 
patented  inventions  in  the  United  States  in  the  past  year  alone 
numbering  over  twenty-three  thousand.  To  keep  thoroughly  informed 
in  the  most  important  of  these,  even  under  the  most  perfect  system 
of  public  expert  valuation  and  classification  would  involve  constant 
vigilance  and  great  study  on  the  part  of  the  architect. 

But  to  expect  every  individual  practitioner  to  extricate  inde- 
pendently from  all  this  mass  of  invention  the  best,  and  to  do  so  with 
no  other  guide  than  the  conflicting  claims  of  those  who  are  admittedly 
the  most  biased,  is  to  expect  an  evident  impossibility.  Yet  this  is 
exactly  what  is  expected  of  the  architect  to-day. 

I  shall  take  my  illustration  from  the  department  of  sanitary 
plumbing,  in  which  I  have  recently  been  obliged  to  make  a  number 
of  particularly  careful  original  experiments  as  the  only  way  to  obtain 
the  very  information  above  indicated  —  information  which  could 
have  been  obtained  much  easier  and  better,  in  the  interest  of  all  the 
people  at  once,  by  the  State. 

I  found  a  great  diversity  of  opinion  existing  among  authorities  as 


6 


to  many  of  the  most  important  points  connected  with  this  branch  of 
building,  and  a  constantly  increasing  complication  in  the  methods  o£ 
piping  in  vogue,  particularly  in  trap-venting,  a  complication  which  my 
investigations  convinced  me  was  not  only  unnecessary  but  even  dan- 
gerous. I  found  that  the  special  trap-vent  pipe,  so  long  as  it  per- 
formed its  office  of  producing  a  ventilating  current  over  the  water- 
seal  of  the  trap,  tended  to  destroy  this  seal  by  evaporation  and  to 
open  a  direct  avenue  into  the  house  for  the  so-called  sewer-gas ;  that 
the  efficacy  of  the  vent-pipe  was  easily  nullified  by  friction  and  clog- 
ging, and  that  its  use  produced  a  false  sense  of  security  which  pre- 
vented the  adoption  of  more  reliable  precautions. 

These  expensive  and  dangerous  complications  were,  in  many 
places,  actually  enforced  by  legislation,  involving  a  pecuniary  loss  on 
the  part  of  the  public  of  a  very  large  sum,  amounting  in  Boston  alone 
during  the  last  few  years,  according  to  estimates  based  on  the  City 
Inspector's  Building  Reports,  to  an  average  of  about  S50,000  a  year. 
As  the  law  benefits  the  dealers  in  lead  and  iron  pipe,  a  powerful 
element  exists  in  favor  of  its  perpetuation  and  extension  to  other 
cities. 

Under  nationalism  the  drainage  and  plumbing  of  our  houses  being 
in  the  hands  of  the  people,  as  is  already  partly  the  case  with  the  water- 
supply,  this  condition  of  things  would  not  for  a  moment  exist,  since 
it  would  be  for  the  interest  of  all  to  have  the  simplest  and  best  system 
of  plumbing  everywhere  adopted,  and  the  necessary  investigations  to 
determine  what  that  system  really  was,  at  once  made  by  the  nation. 
The  cost  of  such  an  investigation  would  be  but  a  minute  fractional 
part  of  the  annual  loss  now  sustained  by  the  people  on  account  of  its 
omission. 

Already  the  best  authorities  are  opposed  to  the  trap-vent  law,  in 
view  of  the  great  improvements  made  during  the  last  few  years,  since 
the  law  was  frametl,  in  plumbing  methods  and  appliances,  and  several 
cities  have  lately  repealed  it.  But  in  Boston  it  still  exists  to  the  dis- 
grace of  the  building  professions,  and  it  is  likely  to  remain  so  until 
the  public  come  to  a  proper  sense  of  the  evil  and  insist  upon 
reform.* 

AVe  will  suppose  that  it  has  been  rumored  among  the  ever  vigilant 
manufacturers'  sales-agents  that  our  architect  is  about  to  compile  his 
plumbing  specifications  for  some  building.  Instantly  a  half-a-dozen 
eager  drummers,  armed  with  brass,  scamper  to  his  office  and  some  of 
the  moi-t  persistant  of  them  succeed  after  many  vain  attempts  in 
gaining  access  to  his  ear.  Those  manufacturers  who  have  the  least 
eloquent  drummers,  or  who  live  at  the  greatest  distance  from  the 
architect's  office,  or  who  do  not  happen  to  hear  at  the  right  time  of 
the  writing  of  this  particular  specification,  stand  at  a  considerable 


It  is  gratifying  to  see  that  our  Building  Inspector,  Danirell,  in  his  last  annual 
report  (for  1889),  wisely  calls  the  attention  of  the  City  (Jouncii  to  this  evil,  in  the 
following  emphatic  language:  "Plumbing  is  a  question  of  growing  importance 
for  it  has  to  do  with  the  safety  of  our  dwellings,  school  and  business  houses  ;  ami 
whether  the  present  method  of  ventilating  is  not  prejudicial  to  health  is  a  matter 
of  serious  moment,  and  I  respectfully  call  your  attention  to  the  ordinance  regu- 
lating it,  believing  that  it  is  necessary  for  the  best  interests  of  the  city  to  amend 
and  revise  said  ordinance  before  the  revision  of  the  ordinances  now  iu  process  is 
completed  and  accepted." 


7 


disadvantage,  for  how  can  a  new  article  be  of  any  great  merit  whose 
proprietor  cannot  afford  to  have  special  agents  in  all  the  principal 
cities  and  towns  throughout  the  land?  Still  the  architect  does  not 
feel  at  liberty  to  abide  exclusively  by  the  somewhat  colored  and 
mutually  contradictory  representations  of  the  agents.  lie  is  forced 
to  make  a  special  study  in  books  and  catalogues  of  some  of  the  latest 
improvements,  and  to  consult  a  number  of  plumbers  and  sanitary  ex- 
perts. He  finds  in  the  catalogues,  innumerable  different  kinds  of 
fittings  in  every  branch  of  the  work,  each  declared  to  be  in  every 
particular  the  very  best.  lie  invites  the  various  manufacturers  to 
demonstrate  the  truth  of  their  claims,  and  studies  the  arguments 
by  which  each  proves  the  utter  falsity  and  absurdity  of  the  pre- 
tensions of  all  the  rest.  By  a  process  of  exclusion,  he  finally  settles 
down  to  two  or  three  kinds,  and  the  agents  for  these  fortunate 
specimens,  offer  to  furnish  him  free  of  charge  (he  being  an  architect 
of  influence)  with  a  sample  of  his  goods,  set  them  up  under 
water-connection  in  his  office  if  necessary,  for  his  personal  trial. 
At  last  after  a  considerable  amount  of  patient  experimenting  and  a 
prodigious  expenditure  of  time  and  very  little  satisfaction,  he  makes 
his  final  selection.  It  is  the  same  in  the  choice  of  every  article  of 
construction  and  workmanship,  from  foundation  to  chimney-top. 

This  foolish  waste  of  energy  will  be  entirely  avoided  under 
nationalism,  all  industries  being  conducted  by  the  cooperative  com- 
monwealth in  a  single  perfected  organization  administered  in  accord- 
ance with  the  simple  principles  taught  us  by  the  great  corporations 
of  to-day,  but  free  from  the  corrupting  influences  and  wasteful  com- 
petition by  which  the  latter  are  crippled.  Xo  opportunity  will  be 
offered  for  intentionally  false  or  exaggerated  representations  as  to 
the  value  of  any  production,  since  all  inventions  will  be  owned, 
manufactured  and  sold  by  the  commonwealth,  the  inventors  being 
rewarded  by  royalties  an  I  special  honors  bestowed  by  the  people. 
The  amount  of  the  royalty  will  be  determined  by  the  popular  re- 
cognition of  the  value  of  the  invention  as  shown  in  their  use  of  it 
and  by  its  merit  as  to  ingenuity,  novelty  and  scientific  importance  as 
determined  by  experts  appointed  in  the  same  manner  with  other 
Government  employes. 

It  would,  of  course,  be  foolish  for  any  one  to  attempt  to  foretell 
with  any  pretensions  at  accuracy  the  details  of  a  future  social  state 
so  radically  different  from  and  immeasurably  above  the  present. 
But  nationalists  are  accused  of  being  only  theorists,  unable  to  sug- 
gest any  practical  steps  by  which  their  vision  may  be  realized ;  and 
as  an  answer  to  this  accusation  we  arc  justifled  in  pointing  out  at 
least  a  possible  form  under  which  the  ideal  may  appear,  without 
claiming  or  believing  that  this  form  is  necessarily  the  only  one  it  can 
assume. 

It  is  then  possible,  and,  I  believe,  even  probable,  that  the  in- 
ventor in  the  future  will  receive  his  recompense  directly  from  the 
State,  and  that  the  recompense  will  be  certain,  prompt  and  just, 
instead  of  the  reverse  as  is  now  the  case,  and  as  must  necessarily  be, 
the  case  under  the  competitive  principle,  since  the  very  qualities  and 
con  litions  which  fit  a  man  for  being  an  inventor  unflt  him  for  ex- 
ploiting his  invention. 

Mr.  Bellamy  has  outlined  with  his  usual  good  practical  sense  and 
great  ingenuity  in  his  "  Lookinrj  Backward "  a  possible  and,  in  my 


8 


mind,  very  probable  way  in  which  books  will  be  published  in  the  co- 
operative commonwealth.  The  first  cost  of  printing  is  defrayed  by 
the  author,  after  which  the  book  is  placed  on  sale  by  the  nation. 
"  The  price,"  says  Dr.  Leete,  "  of  every  book  is  made  up  of  the  cost 
of  its  publication  with  a  royalty  for  the  author.  The  amount  of  this 
royalty  is  set  to  his  credit,  and  he  is  discharged  from  other  service 
to  the  nation  for  so  long  a  period  as  this  credit  at  the  rate  of  allow- 
ance for  the  support  of  citizens  shall  suffice  to  support  him."  As 
with  the  author  so  it  will  be  with  the  inventor.  The  price  of  the 
experimental  work  is  defrayed  by  him,  after  which  the  invention  is 
duly  classified,  catalogued  and  placed  on  sale  by  the  nation.  The 
price  of  the  article  is  made  up  of  the  cost  of  its  manufacture  with  a 
royalty  for  the  inventor,  who  is  discharged  from  other  service  to  the 
nation,  as  long  as  these  royalties  serve  to  support  him.  This  system 
is  admirably  calculated  to  encourage  true  inventive  genius  and  to 
discourage  its  mere  semblance ;  for  all  will  be  free  to  select  the  work 
for  which  they  are  most  fitted  without  misgivings  as  to  their  support, 
and  since  the  acquisition  of  extraordinary  wealth  will  be  neither 
desirable  nor  possible,  the  unhealthy  incentive  which  dazzles  the  eyes 
of  most  of  the  would-be  inventors  of  to-day,  will  cease  to  exist,  and 
with  it  also  the  unhealthy  crop  of  useless  inventions  which  burden 
our  patent  reports.  Those  inventions  which,  under  nationalism,  will 
find  their  way  into  the  national  catalogues,  will  then  well  be  worth 
the  cost  to  the  people  of  their  classification  and  printing.  As  soon 
as  it  becomes  important  for  the  public  to  know  the  exact  relative 
value  of  two  similar  inventions,  scientific  experiments  will  be  con- 
ducted by  the  nation  to  that  end,  and  the  results  will  be  published 
in  the  catalogues  in  properly  condensed  form,  the  most  valuable  in- 
vention being  clearly  designated  as  such  in  accordance  with  the 
regular  system  of  classification  adopted. 

Thus  a  glance  at  the  catalogues  or  a  visit  to  the  nearest  great 
sample-store,  will  sufiice  to  give  the  architect  at  once,  and  with 
absolute  accuracy,  all  the  latest  information  on  any  subject  he  may 
wish  to  investigate,  and  the  time  required  for  selecting  all  that  enters 
into  the  construction  of  the  building  becomes  reduced  to  a  hundredth 
part. 

The  determination  of  cost  also  now  uselessly  consumes  a  vast 
amount  of  the  architect's  time.  He  has,  in  fact,  absolutely  no  means 
of  correctly  ascertaining  this  item  even  though  it  has  a  most  im- 
portant bearing  upon  his  selection.  The  prices  are  indeed  usually 
published  in  the  catalogues  of  the  dealers,  but  these  published  prices 
have  no  more  to  do  with  the  selling  prices  to  builders  and  other  large 
buyers  than  the  advertisements  of  a  quack  medicine  have  to  do  with 
its  real  value.  The  actual  price  is  determined  by  the  discount,  and 
these  the  architect  is  rarely  permitted  to  know.  They  not  only  vary 
from  5  to  05  per  cent  and  more,  but  differ  for  different  individuals, 
at  different  seasons,  and  are  always  subject  to  fluctuations  without 
notice  on  the  turn  of  the  market  or  the  caprice  of  an  individual. 
All  this  insane  tinkering  with  prices  will  instantly  disappear  under 
nationalism  with  the  disappearance  of  its  cause,  and  a  fixed  and  just 
price  will  accompany  every  article  in  the  great  trade-catalogues  of 
the  nation. 

What  has  been  said  of  the  architect  applies  also  to  the  engineer, 
builder,  broker,  housekeeper,  and,  in  short,  to  all  who  have  purchases 


9 


io  make.  Under  nationalism,  housekeeper's  shopping  will 

cease  altogether  to  be  required,  the  national  catalogues,  telephone 
and  rapid  transmitting  service  rendering  it  superfluous. 

For  the  sake  of  convenience  and  clearness,  I  will  call  the  item  of 
waste  just  described,  the  waste  in  purchasing,"  as  distinguished 
from  tiie  waste  in  selling,"  before  alluded  to,  and  the  amount  of 
waste  is,  at  least,  as  great  on  the  part  of  the  former  as  of  the  latter. 
For  wherever  there  is  a  sale  there  must  also  be  a  purchase,  and  it 
takes  exactly  as  long  for  a  salesman  to  ''stuff"  (the  only  really 
appropriate  word  which  occurs  to  me)  a  purchaser  as  it  does  the 
purchaser  to  be  stuffed  by  the  salesman.  But  since  much  more  time 
is  wasted  in  travelling  to  and  from  the  place  where  the  bargain  is 
made,  than  in  actually  making  the  bargain,  and  as  by  far  the  greatest 
number  of  sales  are  made  in  the  shops  or  warerooms  of  the  sellers, 
the  greater  aggregate  loss  of  time  is  suffered  by  the  purchasers. 

The  seller  has,  moreover,  to  learn  the  qualities  and  prices  only  of 
his  own  goods,  whereas  the  purchaser  has  to  learn  those  of  all  the 
goods  he  purchases,  and  under  the  most  conflicting  representations 
which  must  evidently  consume  much  more  time. 


E  come  now  to  our  third  great  waste  which  I  call  the  waste  of 


I  estimate  ^  that  legal  protection  of  all  kinds  costs  each  citizen 
on  the  average  from  one  to  four  per  cent  of  his  income,  which  means 
from  the  standpoint  of  Nationalism,  a  waste  of  from  one  one-hundredth 
to  one  twenty-fifth,  or  an  average  of  about  one-fortieth,  of  all  he  pro- 
duces. 

Since  ninety-nine  one-hundredths  of  all  litigation  is  the  result  of 
the  competitive  system  of  industry,  we  may  add  to  the  above,  the  loss 
as  an  unnecessary  waste  of  energy,  of  substantially  the  whole  working 
hours  of  all  lawyers  and  their  clerks  and  employes,  claim-agents, 
sheriffs,  judges  and  jury -men,  army,  navy  and  police  forces,  jailors, 
detectives,  private  watchmen,  collectors,  tax-assessors  and  insurance 
men.  These  aggregated  in  the  year  of  the  last  census  about  one  one- 
hundredth  part  of  the  whole  working  population.  •  This  hundredth 
added  to  the  above-mentioned  fortieth  gives  us  over  a  thirtieth.  To 
this  again  we  may  safely  add  another  large  percentage  for  the  waste 
involved  by  the  necessity  of  providing  against  mistakes  and  fraud, 
including  all  financial  accounts,  banking  and  bookkeeping,  rendered 
almost  entirely  superfl^uous  by  Nationalism. 

This  item  of  ihe  waste  of  contention  has  a  peculiarly  important 
bearing  upon  the  architectural  profession.  It  is  truly  said  of  the 
architect  of  the  present  day  that  he  must  be  one-third  lawyer  and 
detective,  and  one-third  business  man.  The  preparation  of  his  con- 
tracts, the  search  for  defects  in  its  fulfilments,  and  the  settlement  of 
disputes  between  his  client  and  the  contractors,  occupy  a  very  large 
part  of  his  time,  and  require  qualities  of  mind  and  training  quite 


contention. 


1  Deduced  from  Engel's  Law.   (See  Ely's  "  Political  Economy,"  page  281). 


11 


inconsistent  with  his  legitimate  duties  as  an  artist  and  mechanic. 
Accordingly  architects  of  the  most  sensitive  and  refined  natures  are 
placed  at  a  disadvantage  by  these  necessities,  and  the  result  is  an 
almost  inestimable  loss  to  the  public  and  to  the  art  of  architecture. 

Under  nationalism  no  such  burden  is  laid  upon  the  architect,  the 
nation  supplying  him  with  all  material  and  labor  of  absolutely 
uniform  quality  and  cost,  and  his  entire  energies  will  then  be  turned" 
with  enthusiasm  to  the  cultivation  and  practice  of  his  art. 

A  fourth  great  loss  is  due  to  what  I  call  "  exclusiveness,"  and  has 
reference  particularly  to  our  mode  of  living.  We  are  anti-social,  and 
owe  this  evil  to  the  social  and  intellectual  inequalities  of  the  people 
resulting  from  the  competitive  system.  I  have  shown  in  a  previous 
article  on  "The  Apartment-Hou<e,"  written  for  the  American  Archi- 
tect in  January,  1890,  that  our  dwellings,  built  as  is  now  customary 
in  the  United  States  in  the  form  of  isolated  "towers,"  cost  us  from 
two  to  four  times  as  much  as  equal  accommodations  would  cost  built 
in  the  form  of  "flats"  in  a  properly  constructed  apartment-house. 
These  figures  are  explained  and  verified  by  means  of  simple  diagrams 
one  of  which  I  will  here  reproduce  to  make  clear  what  follows. 

In  this  diagram,  the  long   black-and-white  line  represents  an 


ordinary  isolated  city  dwelling  which  we  have  called  "  tower,"  and  the 
shorter  the  "flat"  in  apartment-house,  which  served  for  our  illustra- 
tion. The  black  part  of  each  line  denotes  unavailable,  and  the 
white  part  available  room,  the  sum  of  the  two  denoting  the  total 
cubical  contents  of  each  dwelling  (by  "available"  I  mean  space 
which  is  directly  occupied  by  the  owner  of  a  suite  as  distinguished 
from  staircases,  furnace,  etc.,  which  are  simply  used  as  means  of 
renderin<r  the  occupied  rooms  habitable). 

The  white  parts  of  the  lines  measure  the  same  length  in  each  case, 
because  the  amount  of  available  room  in  both  buildings  is  assumed  at 
the  outset  to  be  the  same.  Thus  in  the  "tower  "  the  front  and  back 
staircases  and  halls  take  up  22,000  cubic  feet  out  of  a  total  106,000 
covered  by  the  entire  building.  "  In  the  'flat'  the  proportional  part 
of  the  halls  and  staircases  for  each  suite  is  represented  by  a  com- 
paratively insignificant  quantity  as  shown."    The  eighty  families  in 


I 


12 


our  illustration  by  uniting  tlieir  eighty  homes  in  one  cooperative 
apartment,  save  156  staircases,  consisting  of  seventy-six  front  and 
eighty  back  staircases,  seventy-eight  furnaces,  seventy-nine  laundries, 
etc.,  and  all  the  space  they  occupy,  and  the  land,  foundation  and 
roof  they  represent.  Again  an  enormous  waste  is  shown  in  the 
flooring,  roof  and  air-spaces  of  the  "  tower,"  while  this  item  is  but  a 
trifle  in  the  *'flat."  The  six  floors,  each  16  inches  thick,  and  the 
roofing,  make  up  together  in  the  "tower"  12,000  cubic  feet,  or 
nearly  the  equivalent  of  an  entire  story.  Add  to  this  12,000  cubic 
feet  of  air-space  under  the  roof  and  over  the  concrete,  and  we  have 
in  these  items  a  waste  of  24,000  cubic  feet,  against  only  4,000  in  the 
"  flat."  Thus  we  see  that  the  waste  space  in  the  "  tower  "  actually 
exceeds  the  available.  Yet  it  must  be  paid  for  at  the  same  rate 
with  the  latter.  Deducting  the  waste  in  the  "  flat "  from^  that  in  the 
"  tower,"  Ave  find  the  balance  of  waste  space  in  the  "  tower  "  to  be 
equal  to  the  available,  showing  graphically  that  the  "tower"  must 
■cost,  in  these  items  alone,  just  twice  as  much  as  the  "flat." 

The  annual  running  expenses  are  also  greatly  in  favor  of  the 
"  flat "  system  when  the  advantages  of  cooperation  are  used  to  its 
greatest  extent.  Eighty  independent  Irish  cooks  give  way  to  a  pro- 
fessional chef  and  half-a-dozen  attaches.  The  wages  and  mainten- 
ance of  the  80  cooks  would  amount  to  an  annual  sum  of  not  less  than 
S40,000;  those  of  the  chef  and  his  assistants  to  hardly  S10,000, 
making  in  this  one  item  a  possible  annual  saving  of  $30,000. 

The  management  of  the  80  independent  Irish  cooks,  if  possible 
at  all,  could  only  be  accomplished  by  the  constant  struggle  of  80 
worried  and  largely  inexperienced  owners  or  their  wives.  The  man- 
agement of  the  chef  and  his  attaches  could  more  easily  be  manag«ad 
by  a  single  person. 

Corresponding  savings  are  evidently  possible  in  every  other  de- 
partment of  housekeeping,  including  steam-heating,  ventilating, 
laundry -work,  lighting  and  elevator  work.  In  all  these  particulais, 
^cooperation,  judiciously  conducted,  has  been  shown  to  produce  sur- 
prising economies.  In  the  matter  of  heating,  for  instance,  besides 
the  large  saving  in  fuel  due  to  handling  the  materials  at  wholesale, 
there  is  a  vast  saving  in  the  amount  of  space  to  be  heated.  The 
"tower"  contains  106,000  cubic  feet  to  be  heated.  The  same 
amount  of  available  space  in  our  "flat"  contains  about  50,000  cubic 
feet.  Hence  there  is  but  half  the  space  to  heat,  and,  therefore,  the 
cost  of  the  fuel  will  be  but  one-half.  In  a  like  manner  the  cost  of 
management  is  very  much  less,  just  as  much  less,  in  fact,  as  it  costs 
le?s  to  manage  one  large  heating-apparatus  than  to  manage  eighty 
smAl  ones. 

From  an  artistic  standpoint,  an  immense  advantage  is  seen.  The 
rooms  "  may  be  grouped  in  the  '  fiat '  in  a  manner  which  renders 
possible  the  highest  architectural  effect,  whereas  in  the  'tower'  the 
perpendicular  arrangement  evidently  precludes  such  opportunity  by 
limiting  the  design  to  a  wearisome  and  monotonous  repetition  from 
basement  to  attic. 

No  argument  can  be  sustained  against  the  "  flat "  on  the  ground 
of  transmission  of  sound  or  want  of  privacy  and  isolation,  for  sound 
may  be  as  fully  deadened  as  in  the  "  tower  "  by  means  of  improved 
deafening  treatment  now  well-known  to  builders. 

Isolation  may  be  made  complete  in  the  '  flat,'  the  private  halls 


13 


and  front  doors  of  each  suite  being  in  every  respect  the  equivalent  of 
those  in  the  '  tower';  the  only  difference  being  that  with  the  '  fiat* 
the  outer  world  begins  with  the  public  hall  and  its  elevator,  while 
with  the  '  tower '  it  begins  with  the  public  street  and  its  horse-car. 

Nationalism  will  bring  us  to  the  first  true  realization  of  the  value 
of  the  society  of  our  fellow-men.  Universal  education  and  cultiva- 
tion under  equal  opportunities  and  equal  material  advantages  will 
develop  the  highest  qualities  of  mind,  and  the  only  true  and  perfect 
individuality.  Men  will  become  necessary  to  each  other  through 
their  very  differences  of  character,  tastes  and  variety  of  intellectual 
attainments,  and  the  selfish  and  narrowing  isolation  of  the  separate 
dwelling  will  give  place  to  the  cooperative  apartment-house  as  surely 
as  the  isolated  huts  of  the  savage  yield  to  the  cities  and  villages  of 
advancing  civilization.  Accordingly,  under  nationalism,  the  only 
valid  objection  to  the  apartment-house,  namely,  the  uncongeniality  of 
the  people,  will  disappear,  and  with  it  half  the  expenses  of  living. 
In  the  United  States  to-day,  over  nine-tenths  of  the  people  live  in 
isolated  dwellings,  and  with  ninety-nine  one-hundredths  the  expenses 
are  twice  as  great  as  they  would  be  for  better  accommodation  under 
the  cooperative  apartment-house  system. 

I  am  satisfied  that  it  will  be  quite  conservative  to  place  the  saving 
in  this  item  also  at,  at  least,  a  tenth  of  the  entire  present  expendi- 
ture of  the  people. 

Architecturally,  the  gain  will  be  inestimable.  Instead  of  the 
monotonous  rows  of  inharmonious  facades  crowded  closely  together, 
largely  to  the  exclusion  of  sunlight  from  their  rooms,  with  their  still 
more  monotonous  interiors,  we  shall  have  separate  large  and  grace- 
ful edifices  standing  in  open  spaces  wide  enough  apart  to  give  ample 
chances  for  tlie  air  and  sunlight  to  bathe  every  part.  The  streets 
will  be  laid  out  in  such  a  manner  as  to  enable  all  the  rooms  in  the 
buildings  to  receive  the  sunlight  at  some  part  of  the  day,  and  each 
building  will  constitute  a  complete  work  o£  art  in  itself,  set  in  an  in- 
dependent miniature  park.  So  great  is  the  economy  of  land-area 
obtained  by  this  system  of  building,  that  ample  space  will  be  saved 
for  verdure  around  each  edifice,  and  there  will  be  no  crowded,  in- 
sanitary, half-dilapidated  fire-traps  for  the  poor"  as  now,  constitut- 
ing at  once  a  disgrace  to  humanity  and  an  eyesore  and  peril  to  the 
whole  community. 

The  same  principle  of  cooperative  building  will  be  practised  in 
the  country  and  at  the  seashore  as  in  the  cities,  with  the  same  end 
in  view;  namely,  the  promotion  of  social  intercourse,  preservation  of 
natural  beauties  of  site,  and  relief  from  household  cares.  The  sys- 
tem admits  of  either  detached  or  connected  dormitories.  The 
cooking,  laundry-work,  heating  and  other  household  drudgery  of 
each  community  will  then  be  done  under  a  single  management  and 
with  a  single  plant.  By  this  system,  the  natural  beauties  of  the 
landscape  will  be  infinitely  better  preserved  than  at  present.  Now 
every  one  builds  with  little  or  no  reference  to  the  view  and  comfort 
of  his  neighbor,  and  the  finest  effects  of  scenery  are  destroyed.  He 
does  not  even  hesitate  to  imperil  the  health  of  his  neighbor  by  the 
sinking  of  a  cesspool  or  the  laying  of  a  carelessly-jointed  drain  close 
to  his  well,  and  I  have  known  warm  friendship  between  neighbors  to 
be  severed  by  the  encroachment  of  the  branches  of  an  apple-tree 
belonging  to  one  upon  the  premises  of  the  other. 


14 


Under  the  new  regime  it  will  be  for  the  interest  of  all  to  preserve 
all  the  beauties  which  nature  affords,  and  the  concentration  of  the 
residences  of  a  special  neighborhood  on  some  one  spot  best  adapted 
for  building,  besides  giving  to  all  the  social  and  economical  advantages 
which  distinguish  the  civilized  man  from  the  savage,  will  ensure  to 
each  the  most  perfect  enjoyment  of  the  bounties  of  nature. 

Nor  does  this  necessarily  preclude  the  possibility  of  an  occasional 
entirely  isolated  and  independent  cottage  for  those  exceptional 
natures  who,  for  any  reason,  will  prefer  seclusion.  It  is  only  requi- 
site that  such  isolation  be  attained  without  injury  to  the  rights  and 
privileges,  as  these  will  be  under  nationalism  for  the  first  time  fully 
understood,  of  the  rest. 

There  will,  however,  be  no  such  shocking  difference  in  the 
twentieth  century  in  the  aspect  of  the  city  and  that  of  the  country 
as  now. 

Remove  from  the  city  to  the  more  suitable  localities  the  crowded 
shops  and  grimy  factories,  and  substitute  for  them  parks  and  foun- 
tains; remove  the  insane  clamor  of  traffic  consequent  upon  our  pre- 
sent system  of  industrial  warfare,  and  the  populous  city  will  rival  the 
rural  village  in  natural  beauty  and  repose.  The  various  manufac- 
turing and  agricultural  industries  will  be  concentrated  in  those 
parts  of  the  country  best  fitted  by  nature  and  climate  for  their  con- 
duct, instead  of  being  divided  up  and  planted  anywhere,  haphazard 
at  prodigious  waste  in  power  and  transportation.  Animal  power, 
as  a  motor  for  transporting  freight  is  already  being  rapidly  sup- 
planted by  electric-motors,  and  in  the  twentieth  century  animals 
will  be  debarred  from  the  streets,  which  will  then  be  everywhere 
smoothly  paved  with  asphaltum  or  flagging,  and  maintained  as  clean 
and  even  as  a  hall  floor.  As  a  consequence  of  this,  one  o£  the 
greatest  evils  of  city  life,  greatest,  whether  considered  from  a  sanitary 
or  from  an  artistic  and  economical  standpoint,  dust^  the  distributor 
of  disease  germs,  and  the  perpetual  torment  of  the  housekeeper,  will 
be  substantially  banished  from  the  city  forever. 

The  coast  line  of  picturesque  seaport  cities  like  Boston,  instead  of 
being  brutally  sacrificed  as  now  to  lumbering  warehouses,  will  be 
transformed,  as  a  matter  of  course,  into  esplanades  of  marvellous 
beauty  after  the  general  plan  of  the  Lake  Fronts  of  Chicago ;  the 
mercantile  vessels  and  shipping  wharves  being  transferred  to  the 
new  points  determined  by  the  requirements  of  the  great  manufactur- 
ing and  agricultural  centres,  leaving  pleasure  yachts  and  cultivated 
ocean  terraces  to  take  their  places  in  front  of  the  residences. 

Of  course,  no  one  imagines  that  such  a  transformation  could  take 
place  all  at  once.  But  as  the  nation  assumes,  in  continuation  of  the 
evolutionary  process  long  since  begun,  the  management  of  the 
various  industries  one  by  one,  acquiring  next,  perhaps,  the  railroads, 
telegraphs  and  mines,  and  gradually  extending  its  control  as  fast  as 
the  public  good  demands,  so,  one  after  another,  the  private  business 
structures  which  cumber  our  streets  will  disappear,  and  the  new  city 
will  rise  in  their  places.  The  sooner  the  public  becomes  aware  of  the 
great  advantages  which  this  new  order  will  bring  them  individually 
and  collectively,  the  more  rapid  will  be  this  transformation  and  the 
fewer  will  be  the  sufferings  which  would  come  to  all  through  leaving 
the  process  to  the  slow  course  of  natural  evolution. 


8' 


UR  next  great  item  of 
waste  conies  from  the 
failure  of  society  to 
utilize  the  highest  capabili- 
ties of  women.  Drudgery, 
which  the  nation  should 
perform  now  falls  upon  her, 
and  excludes  occupations 
which  would  not  only  be 
more  congenial,  but  which 
are  absolutely  indispensa- 
ble for  the  liiohest  develop- 
ment of  society.  In  the 
year  of  the  last  census,  out 
of  the  seventeen  million  of 
persons  employed  in  all 
occupations,  only  two  and  a 
half  millions  were  women. 
One  of  the  leading  princi- 
ples of  nationalism  is  that 
every  individual  shall  be 
provided  with  the  occupa- 
tion for  which  he  is  best 
fitted,  knowing  that  the 
greatest  curse  for  the  in- 
dividual as  well  as  for 
society  is  to  be  condemned  to  an  existence  of  idleness,  and  that  the 
greatest  blessing  is  to  have  a  congenial  occupation,  relieved  by  suita- 
ble seasons  of  rest  and  recreation.  Moreover  it  recognizes  that  the 
work  of  men  and  women  are  distinct  from,  and  supplementary  to  each 
other,  and  that  the  work  of  each  is  equally  necessary  for  the  perfect 
health  of  the  social  state.  Accordingly  special  occupations,  scienti- 
fically adapted  to  their  respective  physical  and  mental  natures,  will  be 
provided  by  the  nation  for  each.  No  such  absurdity  as  a  question  of 
women's  right  to  suffrage  will  exist  under  nationalism.  Her  participa- 
tion in  the  regulation  of  all  matters  affecting  her  own  sex,  or  equally  both 
sexes,  will  be  needed  by  the  nation,  and  being  needed  will  be  exacted 
of  her.  It  is  evident  that  the  home  and  family  will  always  claim  a 
part  of  every  woman's  time,  but  the  energy  which  is  now  unnecessarily 
spent  in  shopping  and  household  drudgery,  including  that  part  of  the 
training  of  children  which  can  better  be  performed  by  scientifically 
trained  instructors,  as  well  as  all  the  time  which  is  now  wasted  in  un- 
profitable idleness  and  luxury  will  be  claimed  by  the  nation.  W e  may, 
I  think,  fairly  put  the  nation's  share  at,  on  the  average,  one-half  the 


Architecture. 


16 


workin^i  hours  of  every  woman.  But  ai^ain,  to  avoid  all  possibility  of 
over-estimating  our  items  of  was^te,  and  to  leave  ample  margin  for  differ- 
ences of  opinion  in  this  matter,  I  will  reduce  the  figure  to  one-quarter, 
particularly  as  it  is  a  fact  that  a  large  part  of  the  home  work  of 
women  in  wealth  production  escapes  census  enumerations.  Taking 
then  a  quarter  of  the  time  of  the  fourteen  and  a  half  millions  of 
women  now  unemployed,  in  the  sense  above  indicated,  according  to 
the  census  of  1880,  we  have  the  e(|uivalent  of  three  and  a  half 
millions  available  for  the  full  working  time,  or  about  one-fifth  of  the 
entire  working  population  of  to-day. 

Accordingly,  our  waste  due  to  this  item  of  the  unprofitable  employ- 
ment of  women  amounts  to  a  fifth  of  the  whole  productive  energy  now 
exerted. 

It  is  difficult  to  estimate  the  loss  to  the  art  of  architecture  due  to 
the  exclusion  of  the  female  element  from  its  actual  practice,  particu- 
larly under  the  favorable  conditions  induced  by  nationalism ;  but  it 
is  fair  to  say  that  at  least  half  and  probably  much  more  than  half  of 
the  inspiration  which  might  have  contributed  lustre  to  our  fair  and 
noble  art  —  ever  symbolized  by  the  female  figure  —  have  by  this  exclu- 
sion been  sadly  thrown  away. 

The  next  great  unnecessary  waste  comes  from  the  labor  troubles, 
due  to  the  evils  of  the  competitive  system  and  involving  failures, 
business  crises,  gluts,  strikes  and  lock-outs,  speculation,  peculation 
and  gambling,  and  all  the  timidity  and  hesitation  resulting  from  these 
evils. 

Richard  T.  Ely  says  in  his  ^'Political  Economy/,  "  page  260:  "It 
appears  that  wage-earners  are  idle  about  a  tenth  of  the  working  days 
in  the  year,  on  an  average";  and  it  is  a  common  saying,  well  sup- 
ported by  the  facts,  that  for  every  success  in  business  there  are  two 
or  three  failures.  Each  must  learn  anew  for  himself  by 

bitter  experience  and  long  struggle  the  secret  of  financial  success. 
Each  must  create  an  independent  policy,  and  work  out  a  system  of 
management  alone  and  unaided,  and  very  few  succeed  in  this  before 
their  youth  and  power  of  enjoyment  have  passed  away. 

Each  zealously  keeps  the  secret  of  his  success  to  himself,  for  to 
share  it  with  a  competitor  would  be  financial  suicide.  The  terrible 
nervous  strain  occasioned  by  this  incessant  warfare  on  the  part  ot" 
our  business  men,  embitters  their  whole  career,  and  deprives  success 
of  whatever  sweetness  mere  money-making  possesses.  The  struggle 
becomes  more  severe  each  year,  and  the  ratio  of  insanity  increases 
much  faster  than  that  of  the  population. 

A  short  time  ago  a  successful  business  man,  of  world-wide  reputa- 
tion, on  being  congratulated  upon  his  unusual  success  remarked,  "  I 
would  rather  have  my  head  cut  off  with  an  axe  than  endure  the 
worries  and  responsibilities  of  my  business  life  again.  It  ended  by 
driving  me  into  nervous  prostration  of  long  duration,  barely  sparing 
ray  life."  If  such  is  the  experience  of  an  " eminently  successful" 
man,  what  must  be  the  life  of  the  vast  majority,  who  are  eminently 
unsuccessful  ? 

The  loss  of  effective  working  power  due  to  this  great  nervous 
strain  forms  an  important  element  in  the  item  of  waste  now  under 
consideration. 


17 


Deducting  now  from  the  seventeen  million  workers  those  who  have 
already  been  considered  under  our  previous  heads  oi  distribution  and 
conientiouy  and  also  the  professional  men,  we  have  a  balance  of  about 
thirteen  millions  who  must  be  included  under  the  present  class  of 
wane-earners  and  business  men. 

AVe  estimate  that  considerably  over  a  tenth  part  of  the  time  of 
these  thirteen  million  workers  is  wasted  in  what  we  teim  labor 
troubles.  This  is  equivalent  to  a  loss  of  more  than  a  thirteenth  part 
of  the  energy  of  the  whole  body  of  workers.  It  is  only  necessary  to 
add  a  thirtieth  to  more  than  make  up  our  tenth  on  this  item,  and  the 
want  is  quickly  supplied  by  the  timidity  of  capital  and  labor  result- 
innj  from  the  great  perils  and  hardships  connected  with  nil  business 
undertakings  and  the  mental  and  physical  exhaustion  which  these 
evils  produce. 


UR  next  great  waste 
comes  under  the 
heading  of  prevent- 
able cj'ime  and  disease. 

The  census  of  1880 
places  the  number  of  de- 
fective, dependent  and 
delinquent  classes  in  the 
United  States  at  409,- 
535,  (including  168,854 
insane  ajid  idiotic,  82,- 
806  blind,  deaf  and 
dumb,  and  157,875  pris- 
on ers  and  paupers). 
This  makes,  including 
their  attendants  and 
keepers,  nearly  half  a 
million  persons  with- 
drawn from  useful  occu- 
pations, or  about  a 
thirty-fourth  of  the  whole 
working  population. 
It  is  impossible  to  estimate  how  large  a  proportion  of  insanity  and 
idiocy  is  due  to  the  distress,  poverty,  and  fearful  nervous  strain  re- 
sulting directly  or  indirectly  from  the  present  system  of  industrial 
warfare.  Perhaps  nearly  all ;  but  I  will  place  it  at  three-quarters, 
which  may  be  taken  as  the  lowest  measure  of  the  benefits  of  Nation- 
alism in  this  respect.  Ninety-nine  per  cent  of  the  prisoners  and 
paupers  would  be  liberated  by  Nationalism,  since  ninety-nine  per  cent 
of  the  causes  for  both  will  disappear. 

Add  to  the  above  wastes  the  losses  due  to  intemperance  and  pros- 
titution, both  of  which  are  directly  traceable  to  the  evils  of  the  com- 
petitive system;  and  the  losses  coming  from  the  preventable  diseases, 
and  from  the  competitive  manufacture  and  sale  of  intoxicants,  quack 
medicines,  opium  and  other  hurtful  drugs,  and  we  shall  obtain  a  suffi- 
cient aggregate  to  raise  our  percentage  of  waste  under  this  heading 
far  above  the  tenth  we  have  allowed  for  it. 

Our  margin  of  safety  is  here  sufficiently  large  to  cover  that  part 
of  the  waste  enumerated  which  Nationalism  alone  might  be  power- 
less to  cure. 


19 


The  annual  production  and  sale  of  drinks  amount,  according  to 
the  estimates  of  Mr.  Atkinson,  to  $400,000,000  or  a  twenty-fifth  of 
the  whole  national  income. 

Now  under  Nationalism,  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  all  liquors 
being  under  the  government,  and  no  profit  to  individuals  being  ob- 
tained therefrom,  and  all  incentives  to  drink  coming  from  poverty  or 
distress  and  idle  luxury  being  removed,  and  the  strong  public 
sentiment  coming  from  universal  education  being  turned  against 
drunkenness,  the  cause  for  this  great  waste  will  substantially  dis- 
appear. 

A  ninth  great  waste  comes  under  the  heading  of  unfitting  occupa- 
tions. A  man  can  do  twice  as  much  work  in  the  direction  for  which 
he  is  fitted  as  in  any  other.  Yet  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  the  choice 
of  calling  is  regulated  by  other  things  than  special  aptitude.  Fortune, 
favor  and  fashion  are  the  governing  factors. 

Money  considerations  debar  countless  numbers  from  following  un- 
lucrative  callings  for  which  they  have  decided  fondness.  Family  in- 
terest or  personal  favor  opens  opportunities  to  some  to  the  exclusion 
of  others  who  are  better  fitted  or  more  justly  entitled  to  occupy 
them.  Fashion  and  social  restrictions  frequently  exclude  the  college 
graduate  from  the  only  field  in  which  he  possesses  a  strong  natural 
aptitude.  Finally,  with  women,  the  restrictions  are  so  great  that  only 
a  seventh  part  of  the  whole  possible  number  are  reported  by  the 
census  as  employed  at  all. 

The  whole  great  mass  of  the  laboring  and  poorer  classes,  de- 
prived of  the  advantajres  of  a  liberal  education,  are  practically  ex- 
cluded from  all  occupations  in  which  education  is  an  essential  element, 
and  countless  talents  are  thus  buried  in  obscurity  and  lost  to  the 
world.  They  are  even  deprived  of  a  free  choice  in  the  realm  of 
manual  work,  inasmuch  as  the  fluctuations  of  supply  and  demand 
necessarily  limit  freedom  in  this  respect  under  the  competitive  system 
and  render  any  continuous  employment  in  a  given  field  extremely 
uncertain. 

A  prolonged  "  glut, "  so-called,  in  the  market  in  any  particular  in- 
dustry, or  a  decrease  in  the  employing  capacity  of  any  individual  or 
combination  of  individuals,  involves  the  suspension  of  the  work  of 
many  "  hands  "  and  their  absorption  into  other  lines  after  a  great 
waste  of  energy  has  been  sustained  in  making  the  change. 

All  this  would  be  changed  under  nationalism.  For  it  is  a  neces- 
sary consequence  of  the  system,  and  one  of  its  most  important  char- 
acteristics, that  every  citizen  will  be  employed  by  the  nation  in  the 
line  for  which  he  is  best  fitted,  and  every  possible  effort  and  precau- 
tion will  be  taken,  to  ascertain  correctly  in  each  case,  what  this  line 
may  be.  For  it  will  be  for  the  interest  of  all,  that  each  shall  con- 
tribute his  utmost  for  the  commonwealth,  and  in  no  other  way  can 
such  a  result  be  attained.  Under  the  competitive  system,  on  the 
contrary,  every  one  considers  it  for  his  interest  to  reduce  the  pro- 
ductiveness of  his  competitor,  inasmuch  as  his  neighbor's  failure  con- 
tributes directly  to  his  own  financial  success. 

Accordingly  under  nationalism  the  standard  of  work  of  all  kinds 
"will  be  raised  to  the  highest  possible  point,  there  being  no  incom- 
petent ones,  quacks,  or  humbugs  to  lower  it.  Industry  and  ability 
will  be  the  only  sure  road  to  honor,  and  the  most  important 


20 


commissions  will  be  confided  by  general  consent  to  those  best  fitted  to 
execute  them.  Since  every  one  wiU  be  directly  benefited  by  such 
selections,  the  bitter  feehngs  of  rivah-y  and  jealousy  now  existing 
will  disappear,  and  a  spirited  but  friendly  emulation  will  take  ita 
place. 

Nationalism  would  at  once  put  an  end  to  the  use  of  our  absurd 
weights  and  measures  and  replace  them  by  the  Metric  System  now 
adopted  by  the  majority  of  civilized  nations.  "Private  enterprise  " 
has  thrown  the  only  practical  obstacle  in  the  way  of  its  introduction 
during  the  last  decade.  For  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  the 
Government  has  shown  a  disposition  to  meet  the  people  more  tlum 
half-way  in  joining  the  general  march  of  progress  among  nations  in 
this  particular,  and  almost  the  only  positive  opposition  has  come 
from  private  owners  of  machinery  and  goods  whose  gauges  and 
values  would  be  affected  by  the  change. 

Thus  the  interests  of  the  whole  people  have  been  sacrificed  for 
the  benefit  of  a  few  selfish  and  short-sighted,  but  influential 
individuals  who  have  so  far  succeeded  in  working  upon  the  ignoi  ance 
and  prejudice  of  the  masses,  and  through  tliem  postponing  the 
adoption  of  a  blessing,  the  importance  of  which  can  hardly  be 
estimated.  The  United  States  Government  has  always  had  a 
decimal  coinage  which  is  now  also  metric.  Our  five  cent  nickel 
weighs  5  grams;  our  dime  2^  grams;  our  twenty-five  cent  pitce 
grams;  and  our  fifty  cent  piece  12^-  grams.  Our  Congrci-s  made 
the  Metric  System  legal  in  1866,  and  caused  each  State  to  be 
furnished  with  a  set  of  the  metric  standards.  And  b'wce  then  the 
metric  system  has  been  used  exclusively  in  all  the  work  done  in  the 
Assay  Department  of  the  United  States  INlint,  in  the  Unittd  iSfatcs 
Marine-Hospital  Service,  and  the  metre  has  always  been  iv.  vd  in  the 
United  States  Coast  Survey.  Under  nationalism,  when  all 
machinery  and  industries  are  owned  by  the  nation,  it  is  evident  that 
no  other  than  the  metric  system  can  possibly  be  used,  b(cjui;-e  the 
simultaneous  employment  of  two  or  more  diflercnt  systems  will  llien 
be  seen  to  be  an  absurdity  and  absolutely  useless  and  int  xcuf-able. 

The  metric  system  may  be  fully  mastered  in  a  few  hours  by  any 
person  of  ordinary  intelligenct^,  whereas,  on  llie  contrary,  ro  man 
exists  who  can  master  in  a  life-time,  all  the  intricacies  of  the  mutual 
relations  of  the  weights  and  measures  of  our  present  tables. 

It  has  been  estimated  by  good  authorities  that  the  introduction  of 
the  metric  system  will  save  between  one  and  two  years  in  the  school- 
time  of  every  child  enjoying  a  liberal  education.  In  after  life  in  all 
practical  business  and  scientific  research,  the  saving  of  time  and 
money  will  be  inestimable. 

Esj)ecially  important  will  this  item  be  to  the  architect  and  engi- 
neer with  whom  the  calculations  of  weights,  measures  and  values  of 
building  materials  form,  or  should  form,  an  important  part  of  their 
work,  and  they  have  accordingly  for  many  years  actively  favored  the 
adoption  of  the  metric  system,  and  in  1886,  the  Western  Association 
of  Architects  voted  to  petition  Congress  to  pass  a  law  making  the 
system  compulsory  after  a  reasonable  period. 

Foundations  are  measured  in  rods  or  perches  of  two  or  three 
different  kinds,  and  other  building  materials  in  yards,  feet  and 
inches,  or  by  weight  in  tons,  hundred-weights,  pounds  and  ounces  of 


21 


several  different  kinds,  none  having  any  scientific  relations  to  each 
other,  and  computation  which  in  the  metric  system  may  be  accurately 
made  with  a  few  dozen  figures  often  require  as  many  hundred  in  our 
ordinary  measures  with  only  an  approximation  at  accuracy. 

I  have  before  me  the  figures  required  by  an  architect  to  estimate 
approximately  the  weight  of  a  quantity  of  material  used  in  building. 
Tlie  operation  required  380  figures.  I  solved  the  same  problem 
with  absolute  accuracy  by  the  aid  of  the  metric  system  in  68  figures, 
and  in  doing  so  found  that  the  inaccuracies  of  the  first  result  were 
practically  unavoidable. 


w 


'E  have  calculated  the  losses  of  energy 
sustained  in  selling  and  purchasing 
under  the  competitive  system ;  iu 
needless  contention;  neglect  to  utilize  the 
capabilities  of  women ;  in  the  extrava- 
gance of  our  fcxclusiveness ;  in  incessant 
labor  troubles ;  in  all  kinds  of  preventable 
diseases  and  crime,  and  in  the  unwise  allot- 
ment of  the  work  to  be  performed. 

But  a  far  greater  loss  than  any  of  tliese 
comes  from  the  anarchy  of  production. 
"  These  points  of  which  I  have  been  speak- 
ing," says  Mr.  Bellamy,  "  indicate  only  neg- 
atively the  advantages  of  the  national 
organization  of  industry  by  showing  certain 
fatal  defects  and  prodigious  imbecilities  of 
the  sj'stem  of  private  enterprise  which  are 
not  found  in  it.  These  alone,  you  must  ad- 
mit, would  pretty  well  explain  why  the 
nation  is  so  much  richer  than  in  your  day» 
But  the  larger  half  of  our  advantage  over 
you,  the  positive  side  of  it,  I  have  yet  barely 
spoken  of.  Supposing  the  system  of  private  enterprise  in  industry 
were  without  any  of  the  great  leaks  I  have  mentioned ;  that  there 
were  no  waste  on  account  of  misdirected  effort  growing  out  of  mis- 
takes as  to  the  demand,  and  inability  to  command  a  general  view  of 
the  industrial  field.  Suppose,  also,  there  were  no  neutralizing  and 
duplicating  of  effort  from  competition.  Suppose,  also,  there  were  no 
waste  from  business  panics  and  crises  through  bankruptcy  and  long 
interruptions  of  industry,  and  also  none  from  the  idleness  of  capital 
and  labor.  Supposing  these  evils,  which  are  essential  to  the  conduct 
of  industry  by  capital  in  private  hands,  could  all  be  miraculously 
prevented,  and  the  system  yet  retained ;  even  then  the  superiority 
of  the  results  attained  by  the  modern  industrial  system  of  national 
control  would  remain  overwhelming. 

*'  You  used  to  have  some  pretty  large  textile  manufacturing  estab- 
lishments, even  in  your  day,  although  not  comparable  with  ours. 
No  doubt  you  have  visited  these  great  mills  in  your  time,  covering 
acres  of  ground,  employing  thousands  of  hands,  and  combining  under 
one  roof,  under  one  control,  the  hundred  distinct  processes  between, 
say,  the  cotton  bale,  and  the  bale  of  glossy  calicoes.  You  have 
admired  the  vast  economy  of  labor  as  of  mechanical  force  resulting 
from  the  perfect  interworking  with  the  rest,  of  every  wheel  and 
every  hand.  No  doubt  you  have  reflected  how  much  less  the  same 
force  of  workers  employed  in  that  factory  would  accomplish,  if  they 


23 


were  scattered,  each  man  working  independently.  Would  you  tliink 
it  an  exaggeration  to  say  that  the  utmost  product  of  those  workers, 
working  thus  apart,  however  amicable  their  relations  misfit  be,  was 
increased  not  merely  by  a  percentage,  but  manifold,  when  their 
efforts  were  organized  under  one  control?  Well  now,  Mr.  West, 
the  organization  of  the  industry  of  the  nation  under  a  single  control, 
so  that  all  its  processes  interlock,  has  multiplied  the  total  product 
over  the  utmost  that  could  be  done  under  the  former  system,  even 
leaving  out  of  account  the  four  great  wastes  mentioned,  in  the  same 
proportion  that  the  product  of  those  mill-workers  was  increased  by 
cooperation.  The  effectiveness  of  the  working  force  of  a  nation, 
under  the  myriad-headed  leadership  of  private  capital,  even  if  the 
leaders  were  not  mutual  enemies,  as  compared  with  that  which  it 
attains  under  a  single  head,  may  be  likened  to  the  military  efficiency 
of  a  mob,  or  a  horde  of  barbarians  with  a  thousand  petty  chiefs,  as 
compared  with  that  of  a  disciplined  army  under  one  general  —  such  a 
fighting  machine,  for  example,  as  the  German  army  in  the  time  of 
Yon  Moltke." 

According  to  the  tenth  census  the  number  of  persons  engaged  in 
manufacturing,  mechanical,  mining  and  agricultural  industries,  that  is 
in  wealth  production,  amounts  to  eleven  and  one-half  millions,  or  two- 
thirds  of  the  entire  working  force,  and  more  than  five  times  the 
number  employed  in  distribution.  All  these  "hands"  and  "heads" 
are  working  at  cross-purposes  and  in  the  dark.  Each  head  has  to 
learn  independently  how  to  organize  and  lead  its  little  squad  of 
hands  in  its  own  imperfect  way,  where  a  single  head  and  a  single 
business  system  might  be  organized  once  and  for  all,  and  serve  for 
the  entire  eleven  and  a  half  million.  Each  hand  is  needlessly 
duplicating  work  for  the  thousandth  time  in  guiding  one  of  a 
thousand  bmall  machines  which  could  far  better  be  supplanted  by  a 
single  great  machine.  Each  small  factory  or  firm  has  its  separate 
officers,  superintendents  and  foremen,  where  thousands  might  be 
united  in  a  single  establishment  under  a  single  system  of  superin- 
tendence. Each  part  of  the  country  is  sending  its  raw  materials  to 
a  thousand  different  places  for  conversion  into  marketable  goods 
only  to  be  returned  again  for  consumption,  where  all  this  cross 
transportation  might  be  dispensed  with. 

Eliminate  this  last  and  greatest  waste,  and  the  annual  wealth  pro- 
duction of  the  country  might,  as  Mr.  Bellamy  truly  says,  be  increased 
not  merely  by  a  percentage  but  many  fold,  even  without  taking 
into  account  at  all  the  nine  other  great  items  previously  con- 
sidered. 

There  are  many  other  great  wastes  directly  due  to  the  competitive 
system  of  industry  which  will  occur  to  the  reader  ;  such  as  the  loss  of 
energy,  due  to  the  manufacture  and  use  of  adulterations  of  all  kinds, 
which  has  now  assumed  colossal  proportions,  and  the  loss  due  to  the 
obstruction  of  free  trade  with  other  nations,  occasioned  by  the 
present  policy  of  "  Protection  "  which  will  instantly  be  viewed  in  a 
new  lights  when  the  nation  assumes  itself  the  conduct  of  all  indus- 
tries. 

It  is  said  that  in  Paris  alone,  two  thousand  children  die  annually 
before  reaching  the  end  of  their  second  year  of  tuberculous  disease 
contracted  through  cows'  milk.    Rich  and  poor  alike  are  exposed  to 


24 


the  terrible  danger  due  to  the  sale  of  infected  milk  and  unwholesome 
food  of  all  kinds,  an  inevitable  result  of  the  existing  industrial 
system. 

Nationalism,  by  eradicating  the  incentive  for  the  sale  of  such  food, 
will  thereby  stamp  out  a  vast  amount  of  the  disease  which  now 
afflicts  the  whole  community,  and  will  correspondingly  increase  its 
power  of  wealth  production. 

Accordingly  1  believe  it  would  be  nearer  the  truth  to  say  that  the 
nation  will  be  nearer  twentyfold  than  tenfold  richer  when  all  these 
gigantic  Avastes  together  are  abolished,  when  the  people  come  to  a 
general  realization  of  the  gigantic  folly  of  the  competitive  system  of 
industry. 

Thus  it  is  easy  to  see  that  the  principles  of  Nationalism  involve 
no  confiscation  of  property  now  owned  by  private  parties.  Land 
and  machinery  required  by  the  nation  can  then  be  obtained,  as  now, 
in  the  open  market,  and  under  more  equitable  terms,  since  justice 
and  morality  form  the  distinguishing  characteristics  of  Nationalism, 
and  Government  Bonds  will  be  eagerly  taken  in  exchange  for  private 
securities. 

What  will  be  the  effect  upon  the  architecture  of  our  country,  of 
this  universal  enjoyment  of  wealth  and  cultivation,  this  immeasur- 
ably improved  condition  of  the  whole  people  under  Nationalism?  It 
will  develop  a  national  style  of  architecture  which  will  surpass  in 
splendor  anything  hitherto  known  in  the  history  of  the  art,  even  as 
the  superior  social  state  of  the  ancient  Greek  Republic  produced,  in 
the  midst  of  an  age  of  comparative  barbarism,  the  art  of  Phidias. 


Part  of  a  Greek  Temple.    From  Viollet-le- Due's  "  Discourses  on  ArcMtecture** 

WHAT  are  the  special  conditions — tlie  social  and  intellectual 
peculiarities  —  which  developed  the  great  styles  of  architect- 
ure, and  to  what  extent  will  nationalism  reproduce  these  con- 
ditions and  characteristics  ? 


26 


Beginning  with  the  art  of  ancient  Greece,  we  find  a  republic  ia 
which  all  the  citizens  participated  in  public  affairs  and  took  a  deep 
interest  in  them  as  members  of  the  same  society.  This  spirit  of 
association  and  equal  political  and  social  power  and  responsibility 
encouraged  a  spirit  of  criticism,  emulation,  ambition  and  intellectual 
progress.  All  the  citizens  were  cultivated  art  critics  and  more  or 
less  of  philosophers.  The  architect  both  valued  and  feared  their 
judgment  on  his  work,  and  exerted  himself  correspondingly  to  ren- 
der his  creations  worthy  of  himself  and  his  country.  Every  part 
shows  the  result  of  careful  reasoning  in  virtue  of  which  the  design 
was  precisely  suited  to  the  requirements  of  the  structure  and  to  the 
nature  of  the  materials  obtainable.  The  Athenians  were  slave- 
holders, but  the  slaves  formed  no  part  of  the  Republic  proper,  and 
corresponded  simply  to  our  machiner3%  They  did  the  work  of 
machines,  giving  the  Greek  citizens  the  opportunity  for  performing 
the  higher  intellectual  work.  Sparta  alone  of  all  the  Greek  cities 
developed  an  exclusive  and  inhospitable  aristocracy,  and  never  cul- 
tivated the  arts. 

With  the  Athenians  the  artist  worked,  not  for  a  chief,  nor  for  an 
aristocracy,  nor  a  plutocracy,  but  for  the  whole  people  who  were 
free,  cultivated,  fastidious,  critical  and  disputatious.  "  If  such  a 
task  is  difficult,  the  recompense  is  precious  when  obtained  ;  for  suc- 
cess, won  from  such  a  public  opinion,  is  the  only  reward  which  can 
really  flatter  the  artist  .  .  .  The  Athenians  were  inclined  to  make 
art  rule  over  all  things,  or  rather  to  convert  everything  into  a  work 
of  art.  Among  them  an  event,  a  fact,  a  phenomenon,  good,  evil,  all 
that  exists  in  the  material  or  immaterial  world,  was  translated  into 
this  language,  with  a  delicacy  of  observation,  a  logical  truthfulness, 
a  simplicity  and  energy  of  expression  which  seems  almost  super- 
human. But  faculties  so  precious  could  only  be  developed  in  the 
midst  of  a  perfectly  homogeneous  society,  all  of  whose  members, 
moved  by  the  same  intelligence,  understood  each  other  and  were 
equally  sensitive  to  the  different  expressions  of  art."  ^ 

Precisely  these  conditions  will  be  reproduced  under  Nationalism.  - 
The  great  wealth  of  the  Nation  will  give  every  citizen  something  of 
the  leisure  so  fruitfully  applied  by  the  ancient  Greeks  to  the  study^ 
of  art.  With  short  working  days  of  perhaps  from  four  to  six 
hours,  and  frequent  and  liberal  vacations  absolutely  free  from  business 
cares,  ample  opportunity  will  be  given  for  physical  and  intellectual 
development.  Believed  from  the  all-absorbing  occupation  of  money- 
making  and  money-losing,  with  its  long  train  of  consequent  evils, 
and  equipped  with  the  complete  education  received  in  early  life  con- 
sisting partly  of  manual  and  partly  of  mental  training  (the  one  or 
the  other  predominating  in  accordance  with  the  natural  aptitude  of 
the  individual),  all  the  useless  pursuits,  legal,  military  and  criminal, 
necessitated  by  the  competitive  system,  being  abolished,  the  entire 
energy  of  the  whole  people  will  be  directed  to  the  cultivation  of  the 
arts  and  sciences  including  manufacture,  agriculture  and  trans- 
portation. 

All  the  desirable  features  of  the  Greek  Bepublic  at  the  time  of 
Pericles  will  be  reproduced  and  magnified. 

The  first  feature  of  vital  importance,  after  that  of  the  general  cul- 


1  Viollet-le-Duc's  '^Discourses  on  Architecture." 


27 


tivation  of  the  masses  and  social  equality,  influencing  Greek  archi- 
tecture, was  that  the  architect  was  both  artist  and  engineer;  or, 
in  other  words,  the  professions  of  the  architect  and  engineer  were 
one  and  the  same.  This  is  an  essential  condition,  and  the  impossi- 
bility of  its  realization  under  the  present  form  of  competitive  indus- 
try, is  one  of  several  reasons  why  we  cannot  expect  to  see  the 
development  of  another  great  style  of  architecture  so  long  as  this 
system  lasts.  It  is  not  sufficient  that  the  architect  should  employ 
an  engineer  or  associate  himself  with  one.  He  must  be  one.  Al- 
ready far  too  much  is  exacted  of  the  architect  to-day  to  enable  him 
greatly  to  extend  his  sphere  in  this  direction.  He  must  first  be  re- 
lieved of  two-thirds  of  the  cares  and  responsibilities  he  now  sustains, 
and  this  can  only  be  done,  as  already  indicated,  by  the  Nation. 

The  result  of  the  union  of  these  two  qualities  in  the  architect  is 
most  forcibly  shown  in  the  magnificence  and  boldness  of  the  early 
Gothic  architecture,  but  it  is  also  clearly  evident  in  the  logical  re- 
finement of  the  ancient  Greek  ;  while  its  absence  is  the  cause  of  the 
failure  from  an  artistic  standpoint  of  the  Roman  architecture. 

These  facts  are  too  well  recognized  to-day  by  the  architect  to  re- 
quire argument,  but  for  the  non-professional  reader  a  few  illustra- 
tions may  be  necessary,  and  even  to  the  professional  useful,  as  pre- 
senting the  subject  in  a  new  light. 

The  initial  cut  shows  the  construction  of  part  of  a  Greek  temple. 

The  simple  problem  before  the  architect  was  to  build  an  enclosed 
room  surrounded  with  porticos  to  protect  and  shade  it,  in  the  most 
suitable  and  beautiful  manner  with  the  materials  and  machinery  at 
command.  His  material  consisted  in  the  marbles  of  the  neighbor- 
ing mountains;  his  machinery  in  the  arms  of  his  slaves.  Accord- 
ingly, where  large  blocks  of  material  are  not  absolutely  necessary 
for  grandeur  of  effect,  as  in  the  walls  of  the  cella,  small  stones  are 
used,  which  can  easily  be  transported  in  square  blocks  by  these 
slaves.  Where  large  pieces  are  required,  as  in  the  columns  of  the 
the  porticos,  the  blocks  are  cut  at  the  quarry  in  the  cylindrical  form 
necessary  to  facilitate  transportation  by  rolling.  The  lintel  stones 
above  the  columns  are  smaller  and  composed  of  two  long  pieces,  one 
showing  a  face  on  the  exterior,  and  the  other  on  the  interior  of  the 
portico.  This  division  is  for  two  purposes,  both  considerations  of 
engineering,  the  first  being  to  diminish  weight  in  transportation, 
and  the  second  to  avoid  danger  of  fracture  under  the  pressure  of  the 
superstructure  on  account  of  chance  flaws  or  natural  lines  of  break- 
age, invisible  at  the  time  of  quarrying,  to  which  all  calcareous  stones 
are  liable  We  see  everywhere  the  science  and  skill  of  the  engi- 
neer united  with  the  delicate  feeling  of  the  artist.  The  lintels  are 
raised  to  their  places  by  ingeniously  formed  channels  cut  in  their 
ends,  since  the  modern  crowbar  and  wedges  cannot  be  used  to  ad- 
just these  finely  cut  and  finished  blocks.  The  capitals  of  the  col- 
umns are  formed  with  strong  projections  all  round,  the  lateral  pro- 
jections being  needed  to  assist  in  the  support  of  the  lintels,  either 
actually  or  for  the  satisfaction  of  the  eye,  and  the  front  and  rear 
to  serve  as  scaffolding  for  the  erection  of  the  lintels  and  super- 
structure. Above  the  lintels  only  small  stones  are  used,  since  large 
ones  are  not  needed  for  the  artistic  effect  of  the  structure.  The 
corner    columns   where   greater  strength  is  needed  are  spaced 


28 


nearer  together  than  the  rest,  and  these  columns  are  sUghtly  thicker 
than  the  interior  ones  and  lean  slightly  inward  to  increase  the 
stability  of  the  building.  The  strength  and  proportions  of  every 
part  are  calculated  with  the  utmost  refinement. 

The  same  constructive  skill  is  displayed  in  the  treatment  of  every 
detail,  and  the  same  hand  and  mind  are  apparent  in  their  artistic 
decoration.  Thus  the  columns  and  triglyphs  are  fluted  to  increase 
the  effect  of  vertical  strength,  and  give  decision  and  character  to 
the  lines  of  light.  The  columns  are  diminished  in  size  toward 
the  top  to  correct  the  optical  effect  of  the  reverse  which  an  equal 
diameter  at  the  top  would  produce;  and  all  the  apparently  straight 
lines  of  the  building,  both  horizontal  and  vertical,  are  really  most 
delicate  hyperbolic  curves  designed  with  the  most  subtile  feeling  to 
counteract  optical  effects  produced  by  their  combinations  which 
would  offend  the  trained  eye  of  the  Greek. 

Every  moulding  has  its  meaning,  explanatory  of  the  functions  of 
the  member  it  adorns,  and  every  piece  of  sculpture  tells  a  story 
appropriate  to  the  purpose  of  the  structure.  Thus  the  moulding 
under  the  abacus  of  the  Doric  column  indicates  by  its  design  the 
massive  weight  these  sturdy  members  support.  The  story  is  told  by 
the  form  of  the  leafage  inscribed  upon  its  surface.  The  leaves  are 
doubled  entirely  over  upon  themselves  until  their  pointed  ends  touch 
their  bases,  as  shown  in  the  accompanying  sketches.  The  leaves  on  the 
antas  or  pilasters  are  somewhat  less  bent  indicating  thereby  truth- 
fully that  less  weight  Is  borne  by  them  than  by  the  columns.  With 
the  Corinthian  order,  on  the  contrary,  where,  as  compared  with  the 
Doric,  grace  and  lightness  are  the  distinguishing  features,  the  leaves 
below  the  abacus  are  but  lightly  curved,  and  thus  express  the  com- 
parative lightness  of  the  entablature.    The  Romans,  incapable  of 


Doric  Column  Capital.  Doric  Pilaster  Capital. 


understanding  any  such  refinement  of  art  expression  as  this  inter- 
preted the  Doric  tracery  above  described  as  indicating  cggs-and-darts, 
and  so  named  it.  Could  any  more  unfortunate  symbols  possibly  be 
devised  to  express  resistance  to  colossal  weight  than  eggs-and-arrows  I 
Finally,  the  whole  structure  is  richly  decorated  with  strong,  pure 
colors,  for  the  purpose  of  setting  forth  the  various  members  of  the 
structure  in  bold  relief  and  of  adding  brilliancy  to  the  design. 
"  This  application  of  color,"  says  VioUet-le-Duc,  "  to  the  exterior  of 
monuments  is  so  necessary  in  a  country  like  Greece,  where  the  air 
has  a  marvellous  transparency,  that  to-day,  for  example,  he  who 


29 


from  a  certain  distance  looks  at  the  Temple  of  Theseus  at  Athens, 
now  deprived  of  its  colors,  when  in  fall  sunlight,  finds  it  impossible 
to  distinguish  the  lights  on  the  columns  from  those  on  the  wall  of  the 
cella  behind  them,  these  lights,  though  on  different  planes,  beino- 
confounded  and  appearing  to  be  projected  on  the  same  surface."  ° 

When  the  travclhng  public  view  tlie  ruins  of  these  temples  to-day, 
they  see  nothing  of  their  real  beauty,  the  color,  the  sculpture  and  re- 
finement of  the  forms  are  gone;  yet  the  average  traveller  imagines 
himself  transported  with  admiration  when  he  beholds  them,  and  he 
describes  their  glory  to  his  friends  at  home  with  as  much  enthusiasm 
as  if  he  had  actually  seen  the  reality.  Thereupon  ghostly  imitations 
are  erected  all  over  the  country,  without  the  color,  sculpture,  refine- 
ment, life  or  meaning  of  the  original  creations,  and  our  public  has 
not  tlie  cultivation  to  realize  the  absurdity  of  the  thing.  They  are, 
in  fact,  as  a  whole,  too  much  hurried  and  worried  to  care  anything 
about  the  refinements  of  the  art  of  architecture,  and  could  not  afford 
to  pay  for  them  if  they  did. 

The  next  desideratum  for  the  development  of  a  true  style  of  archi- 
tecture, evidently  unattainable  under  our  present  competitive  system, 
is  that  the  architect  should  be  permitted  in  every  case  to  personally 
superintend  the  execution  of  his  design;  in  order  that  the  archi- 
tectural forms  may  exactly  conform  to  the  conditions  of  the  site.  "  It 
is  not  rare,"  says  Viollet-le-Duc,  ''to  meet  persons,  considered  com- 
petent judges,  or  even  artists,  who  believe  that  a  project  conceived 
by  an  architect  can,  without  losing  any  of  its  merit,  be  put  into 
execution  by  outside  subalterns  without  any  direct  supervision  of  the 
architect.  Now  a  work  of  architecture,  like  every  other  work  of  art, 
is  the  most  intimate  association  and  agreement  between  the  concep- 
tion of  it,  and  the  manner  and  means  of  executing  it;  and  to  sup- 
pose that  an  architect  can  make  a  design,  which  another  can  execute 
without  his  superintendence,  is  the  same  as  admitting  that  a  musi- 
cian may  be  two  men,  one  who  composes  and  one  who  arranges  the 
score  of  the  orchestra.  The  skilful  architect,  in  designing,  always 
has  in  view  the  materials  he  is  to  employ,  their  forms  and  dimen- 
sions; he  must  appreciate  their  qualities  and  nature,  and  dispose  of 
them  accordingly;  he  builds  up  in  one  day  in  his  mind  what  it  will 
take  years  to  erect  actually :  and  the  sheet  of  paper  before  him 
already  becomes,  as  it  were,  a  vast  constructor's  yard,  where  masons, 
stone-cutters,  carpenters,  iron-worker  ,  slaters,  joiners,  glaziers, 
sculptors  and  painters,  are  plying  their  vocations  to  produce  an 
harmonious  whole,  just  as  the  musician,  in  composing  an  opera, 
hears  the  various  instruments  of  the  orchestra,  the  choruses  and  the 
voices  of  the  singers.  But  in  order  that  the  public  may  recognize 
in  the  score  of  the  musician  as  in  the  monument  of  the  architect,  an 
original  work  of  art,  bearing  the  impress  of  personal  talent,  the 
musician  must  have  himself  written  and  arranged  all  parts  of  his 
composition,  as  the  architect  must  have  himself  apportioned  among 
all  his  workmen  the  various  details  which  compose  his  monument; 
and  it  is  essential  that  the  musician  himself  should  direct  the  re- 
hearsals, so  that  he  may  modify  his  work  where  experiment  may 
render  it  necessary,  tis  the  architect  should  superintend  his  me- 
chanics and  arrange,  according  to  the  spirit  of  his  design,  the  in- 
numerable unforeseen  emergencies  of  execution  as  they  daily  arise 


30 


under  the  hands  of  the  workmen."  The  direction  and  power  of  the 
sun's  rays,  and  the  forms  of  the  shadow  in  particular  locaUties 
always  determined  the  forms  of  the  mouldings  used  in  the  Classic 
styles.  The  architect  should  not  only  supervise  the  erection  of  the 
building,  but  to  a  certain  ej^tent  also,  the  preparation  of  the  mate- 
rials, since  his  design  must  be  influenced  by  the  size,  form  and  con- 
stitution of  the  materials  he  uses.  If,  for  instance,  his  stonework 
must  come  from  quarries  which  are  capable  of  furnishing  only  small 
blocks,  the  design  must  be  governed  by  this  condition.  If,  on  the 
other  hand,  enormous  blocks  are  obtainable,  the  design  must  be  made 
to  take  advantage  of  this  as  an  element  of  grandeur.  It  was  in 
strictly  conforming  to  these  principles  that  the  Greeks  and  mediaeval 
architects  produced  the  essential  characteristics  of  their  styles. 

It  is  not  so  with  us,  nor  can  it  be  in  the  pressure  and  hurry  of  the 
modern  architect's  work.  Our  design  must  be  made  to  suit  the  style 
arbitrarily  selected,  and  be  prepared  in  time  to  enable  the  building 
to  be  completed  in  accordance  with  the  close  financial  calculations  of 
the  owner,  and  if  the  stones  come  from  the  quarry  in  pieces  too 
large  to  conform  to  the  design,  they  must  be  cut  up  into  little  pieces 
or  else  grooved  in  courses  shamming  little  pieces  as  the  only  alterna- 
tive. 

Mr.  Henry  Van  Brunt,  in  the  introduction  to  his  scholarly  transla- 
tion of  Viollet-le-Duc's  "  Discourses,"  *  refers  to  this  evil  in  the  fol- 
lowing telling  words  :  "  The  atmosphere  of  haste  in  which  we  live  is 
another  element  distinctly  detrimental  to  the  development  of  good 
style.  But  the  Greek  democracy,  says  our  author,  'had  the  in- 
estimable advantage  of  leisure.*  The  Greek  temple,  therefore,  is  an 
expression  of  utter  tranquility.  The  very  essence  of  that  great  art 
was  deliberation.  The  architect  was  never  hurried ;  his  inspiration 
proceeded,  not  from  impulse,  but  from  conviction.  He  built  slowly. 
But  with  us  he  is  pressed  to  the  completion  of  his  work  amidst 
bustle  and  confusion.  The  public  is  impatient  of  delay;  it  must 
have  promptness  and  despatch  at  all  hazards.  The  modern  Ictinus 
must  supply  the  design  for  the  new  Parthenon, '  ready  for  estimates,' 
in  three  weeks  at  farthest ;  and  the  unfinished  study  is  perpetuated  in 
a  workmanlike  manner  and  with  all  its  sins  of  omission  and  commis- 
sion made  permanent  and  monumental.  Indeed,  all  the  conditions 
of  life  in  this  country  encourage  the  architect  to  habits  rather  of 
rapid  composition  than  of  study  and  reflection,  and  tend  to  make  of 
his  occupation  rather  a  business  than  a  fine  art.  The  '  strenuous 
liberty*  which  we  have  inherited  involves  a  constant  and  often 
harassing  struggle  for  existence.  Therefore,  the  aim  of  the  archi- 
tect is  to  multiply  his  opportunities  of  professional  work  to  the 
utmost  extent,  having  in  view,  first,  his  pecuniary  emoluments,  of 
course,  and  second,  his  art.  Under  these  circumstances  he  has  no 
time  to  review  his  studies;  he  cannot  afford,  after  his  first  sketches 
are  made  and  his  work  is  in  progress  of  routine  development  in  his 
office,  to  distrust  and  chasten  his  favorite  motifs,  with  the  solicitude 
and  patience  of  an  artist  aiming  at  perfection  like  the  Greek ;  much 
less,  having  discovered  on  reflection  a  new  condition  in  his  problem 
which  would  enable  him  perhaps  to  raise  to  a  higher  plane  of  artistic 
excellence  or  fitness  the  whole  sentiment  of  his  work,  to  throw  aside 


1  Published  by  Ticknor  &  Company,  Boston. 


31 


his  old  studies  and  begin  anew.  This  costs  too  much.  If  the  pro- 
ducts of  routine  and  conventionality  will  satisfy  his  impatient  public, 
he  has  the  strongest  impulse  under  the  circumstances  to  content 
himself  with  the  superficial  appearance,  and  let  the  substances  of  art 
go  for  those  who  can  afford  it.  Art  is  a  mistress  who  is  won  by  no 
such  partial  service." 

Now  so  long  as  "  time  is  money,"  and  the  struggle  for  money  is 
the  first  aim  and  only  condition  of  existence  with  the  people,  or  in 
other  words,  so  long  as  the  competitive  system  exists,  so  long  will 
that  mistress  refuse  to  be  won  by  them. 


rpHE  union  of  artist 
and  engineer  is 
particularly  notice- 
aTble  in  the  architects 
of  the  twelfth  century. 
Their  great  cathedrals 
are  marvels  of  engineer- 
ing skill  handled  with 
consummate  art.  The 
problem  before  them 
was  almost  the  reverse 
of  that  presented  to  the 
ancient  Greek.  A  vast 
hall  must  be  built  and 
roofed-in  with  materi- 
als so  small  as  to  resem- 
ble rubble  more  than 
blocks  of  masonry.  The 
supports  of  the  roof 
vaulting  must  occupy  a 
minimum  of  ground 
area,  not  only  for  the 
purpose  of  giving  the 
greatest  possible 
amount  of  unobstructed 
room  for  the  perform- 
ance and  view  of  the 
sacred  ceremonies  and 
grand  processions  held 
Avithin  them,  but  also 
to  provide  a  maximum 
of  open  space  for  the 
gorgeous  stained-glass 
windows  which  form  a 
leading  characteristic 
of  the  Gothic  style. 
The  initial-cut  shows  the 
construction  of  a  part 
of  a  Gothic  cathedral. 
Only  a  perfect  mastery  of  the  laws  of  statics  and  dynamics,  as 
affecting  the  materials  employed  and  a  marvellous  skill  in  their  appli- 
cation, enabled  the  architect  to  erect  such  daring  structures,  which 
have  already  stood  the  test  of  five  centuries  and  now  seem  capable 
of  standing  as  many  more.  The  Gothic  represents  the  dynamics 
and  the  ancient  Greek  the  statics  of  architectural  construction,  and 
the  resultant  forms  are  correspondingly  diametrically  opposite  tO' 


Section  of  the  Nave  of  Amiens  Cathedral.    From  Viollet- 
le-Duc. 


33 


each  other.  Equihbrmm,  the  opposition  of  compressile  to  tensile 
iorces,  and  the  reduction  of  the  horizontal  section  of  the  points  of 
support  to  a  miniinum  are  the  principles  of  Gothic  construction, 
iron,  had  it  been  obtainable  in  large  masses  for  building,  would  have 
been  enthusiascicahy  used  by  the  Gothic  architects  as  a  means  of 
obtaining  pouits  of  support  still  more  rigid  and  condensed. 

The  Goihic  architecture  did  not  attain  its  highest  perfection  until 
emancipated  entirely  from  the  control  of  the  church.  This  took 
place  at  the  end  of  tiie  twelfth  century,  when  a  real  national  spirit 
began  to  make  itself  lelt  in  the  gradual  enfranchisement  of  the  com- 
mons, in  scholastic  discussions  and  in  the  study  of  ancient  philosophy. 
Then  throughout  France  a  truly  national  style  arose  with  a  general 
thirst  for  Icnowledge,  independence  and  national  union  aniong^ll  the 
people  of  the  middle  classes,  and  under  this  influence  it  developed 
with  great  rapidity.  The  artists  were  then  entirely  independent, 
neither  the  clergy  nor  the  nobility  interfering.  The  whole  people 
took  an  intense  interest  in  their  architecture.  They  were  not,  in 
the  modern  sense,  highly  educated.  Books  were  rare,  since  the 
printing-press  did  not  then  exist.  Therefore,  the  painting  and 
sculpture  of  their  cathedrals  formed  almost  their  only  literature,  and 
this  made  these  buildings  all  and  all  to  those  who  erected,  as  Avell  as 
to  those  who  worshipped  in  them,  and  thus  the  appreciation  and  love 
for  art  grew  strong  among  the  whole  people  and  was  not  confined  to 
the  richer  classes. 

The  accompanying  cut  represents  in  perspective  a  part  of  the 
interior  of  the  Cathedral  of  Mayence,  and  gives  some  idea  of  the 
marvellous  beauty  of  these  noble  creations,  the  highest  work  of  art 
ever  produced  hy  man.  Such  interiors  as  these,  blazing  with 
harmonious  colors  and  rich  with  sculpture,  could  only  be  the  work  of 
love  of  a  whole  community  inspired  by  one  feeling  and  a  universal 
sympathy  for  their  national  art,  and  could  have  no  other  effect  upon 
those  Avho  worshipped  in  them  than  to  civilize  and  elevate  them  to 
a  still  higher  degree.  This  cut  illustrates  clearly  the  method  of  con- 
struction of  medisBval  architects.  Not  a  stone  over  a  foot  thick  is 
shown  in  the  whole  design,  and  yet  the  stability  both  actual  and 
apparent  of  the  structure  is  absolute,  even  though  the  horizontal 
area  of  the  supporting  columns  is  reduced  to  the  smallest  amount 
possible  with  stone,  and  the  walls  are  cut  away  to  mere  points  of 
support  in  order  to  make  room  for  whole  volumes  of  history  in  stained 
glass. 

"An  epoch,"  says  Viollet-le-Duc,  "which  regards  art  as  a  mere 
matter  of  luxury,  an  appurtenance  of  the  privileged  classes,  or  an 
envelope  proper  only  for  certain  public  monuments,  may  be  a  well 
administered  epoch,  but  it  does  not  possess  the  highest  element  of 
civilization,  and  perhaps  one  of  the  most  essential  qualities  of  public 
tranquility.  There  are  intellectual  enjoyments,  as  well  as  material 
enjovmenls,  and  the  former,  like  the  latter,  when  they  become  exclu- 
sive and.  priviledged,  create  envy  and  ill  feeling.  If  but  a  few 
know  how  to  read,  the  ignorant  crowd,  when  it  chances  to  get  the 
upper  hand,  burns  books  with  as  much  passion  as  it  burns  sumptuous 
chateaux,  where  all  the  material  pleasures  of  life  are  brought 
together.  If  everybody  can  read,  books  will  accumulate  and  remain 
uiTinsulted  upon  the  library  shelves.    In  the  same  manner  to  make 


34 


art  a  matter  of  luxury  or  to  associate  it  only  with  wealth  is  danger 


Interior  of  Gothic  Cathedral.    From  Violiet-le-Duc. 

ous  alike  for  art  and  for  the  exclusive  few  who  patronize  it.    It  is 


35 


important,  therefore,  to  render  art  catholic,  and  to  restore  it  to  its 
proper  intluence  over  all  things  and  its  proi)er  place  everywhere; 
it  is  important  that  the  minds  of  all,  and  of  artists  more  especially, 
should  be  penetrated  with  the  truth  that  art,  in  architecture,  does 
not  consist  in  the  employment  of  precious  marbles  or  in  the  accumu- 
lation of  ornaments,  but  in  distinction  of  form,  in  the  most  graceful 
and  most  honest  way  of  doing  practical  things ;  for  it  cot^ts  no  more 
in  money,  although  it  may  in  thought,  to  cut  stones  or  to  lay  bricks 
according  to  judicious  principles,  and  with  a  proper  regard  for 
aesthetic  proprieties,  than  to  cut  and  lay  them  without  duly  consider- 
ing the  place  they  are  to  occupy  in  the  building,  and  the  part  they 
are  lo  bear  in  its  general  effect.  Now  the  art  of  the  lay  school  in 
the  thirteenth  century  was  essentially  democratic ;  it  was  everywhere 
and  in  everything;  and  the  villager  had  as  much  right  to  be  proud 
of  his  little  church,  or  the  countiy  gentleman  of  his  manor-house, 
as  the  citizen  of  his  cathedral  or  the  nobleman  of  his  palace." 

The  architect  of  the  best  Gothic  period  made  his  own  details  and 
superintended  the  construction  of  the  building.  He  was  the  master 
of  the  works.  The  great  cathedrals  of  the  Middle  Ages  were  not 
designed  and  executed  in  a  few  months.  They  were  the  work  of 
years  and  even  centuries.  They  represent  the  aggregate  experience 
of  a  whole  people  working  for  generations  in  the  same  direction.  A 
single  mind,  however  talented,  cannot  invent  a  new  style.  Archi- 
tecture is  a  useful  art ;  an  adaptation  to  habitations  of  all  the  count- 
less developments  of  science  in  methods  of  construction,  warming, 
ventilating,  lighting,  draining,  and  protection  of  all  kinds,  and  every 
advance  or  modification  in  any  one  of  these  elements  which  make 
up  the  building,  must  have  its  effect  upon  its  form.  Accordingly 
architecttu'e  must  of  necessity  develop  slowly  and  only  in  conformity 
with  the  progress  of  the  various  elements  of  which  it  is  composed. 
In  a  purely  useful  art,  like  ship-bnilding,  for  instance,  this  necessity 
of  sloAv  development  is  instinctively  felt  and  accepted  by  every  one 
without  question.  Each  individual,  each  generation,  is  content  to 
add  the  merest  atom  to  the  general  progress,  the  smallest  detail  to 
the  grand  aggregate  of  effort  which  has  converted  the  canoe  of  the 
savage  into  the  great  ocean  steamer  of  to-day.  So  it  was  in  the 
architecture  of  the  Middle  Ages  and  so  must  it  always  be  in  the 
development  of  another  national  style. 

But  the  architect  of  to-day  is  not  satisfied  to  perform  so  humble  a 
part;  he  must  distiniruish  himself  by  producing  some  striking  orig- 
inality; he  must  tickle  some  eccentric  client,  or  be  left  behind  in 
the  present  slavish  race  for  existence  and  position.  Thus  it  is  that 
in  Art  the  age  of  gold  is  ths  reverse  of  the  "  Golden  Age,"  and  we 
have  in  the  abnormal  craving  for  originaUly  a  fourth  reason  why,  so 
long  as  the  competitive  money  struggle  exists,  a  great  national  style 
of  architecture  is  an  impossibility.  Unfortunately,  too,  the  evil 
increases  and  must  continue  to  increase  under  this  system  each  year, 
for  as  one  by  one  the  various  small  manufacturing  and  distribirting 
firms  are  crushed  out  of  existence  by  the  great  monopolies,  other 
occupations  will  be  sought  and  the  professions  must  inevitably 
become  correspondingly  overcrowded.  As  competition  grows  hotter, 
the  independence  of  the  artist  so  indispensable  for  the  progress  of 
art,  must  diminish  until  artists  and  architects  will  be  degraded  to 


36 


the  position  of  lackeys  to  a  liauglity  and  ostentatious  plutocracy, 
and  as  has  under  such  condiiions  always  been  the  case  in  history, 
the  degradation  of  art  will  be  absolute. 

A  Jifth  great  evil,  resulting  from  the  competitive  system,  pregnant 
with  danger  to  the  art  of  architecture,  comes  from  the  custom  of 
instituting  architectural  competitions  for  the  award  of  the  most 
desirable  building  commissions.  However  necessary  they  may  be 
under  the  competitive  system  of  industry,  from  which  they  are  a 
direct  outgrowth,  and  they  certainly  are  necessary  under  this  systt  m, 
nevertheless,  considered  from  a  broad  standpoint  they  are  an  unal- 
loyed evil,  and  the  fact  that  under  nationalism  all  need  and  excu^^e 
for  them  will  absolutely  disappear  is  not  the  least  of  the  countless 
practical  advantages  of  this  system. 

To  avoid  misunderstanding  it  is  proper  to  say  at  the  outset,  that 
the  writer  has  no  unusual  personal  prejudice  against  competitions, 
inasmuch  as  his  most  lucrative  commissions  have  come  from  them. 
Condemnation  of  the  principle  is  in  no  respect  due  to  any  personal 
bitterness. 

Architectural  competitions  are  of  two  kinds,  the  first  being  for  the 
selection  of  the  architect  and  the  second  for  the  selection  of  the  vari- 
ous contractors  who  are  to  execute  his  designs. 

The  first  evident  objection  to  the  competition  of  architects  is  the 
encouragement  of  unstudied  but  effective  and  flashy  design,  of  the 
attempt  to  produce  that  superficial  and  dangerous  orif/inality  to 
which  we  have  just  referred  —  an  effort  to  capture  the  jury,  rather 
than  an  earnest  and  thorough  study  of  the  problem  from  the  highest 
standpoint  of  art,  through  which  alone  a  national  style  can  ever  be 
developed.  It  often  happens  that  a  month,  or  even  a  fortnight,  is 
all  the  time  given  the  architect  to  make  his  competitive  drawings  for 
a  most  important  building.  Even  if  the  architect  had  no  other  work 
on  hand  to  be  "rushed,  '  how  could  a  design  ti-uthfuUy  representing 
all  the  requirements  of  the  case,  and  worthy  of  living  for  centuries 
in  monumental  stone,  be  created  in  these  few  days?  In  the  evident 
impossibility  of  studying  all  the  constructive  and  utilitarian  require- 
ments of  the  case,  which  ought  evidently  to  govern  the  form  of  the 
structure,  the  architect  is  obliged  to  select  arbitrarily  in  advance 
some  style  of  architecture  belonging  to  past  ages  which  happens  at 
the  time  to  be,  in  his  opinion,  most  fashionable  or  appropriate,  and 
afterwards  mould  the  requirements  to  suit  these  forms  as  best  he  can. 

But  if  it  is  difficult  for  architects  to  prepare  their  designs  in  so 
short  a  time,  it  is  stiil  more  difficult  for  a  jury  to  decide  justly  upon 
their  merits,  and  a  truly  satisfactory  decision  is  rarely  attained. 

Finally,  the  temptation  to  unfairness  of  all  kinds,  conscious  and 
unconscious,  on  the  part  of  the  competitors  as  well  as  of  the  judges^ 
is  so  great  that  many  of  the  ablest  and  most  conscientious  architects 
refuse  to  participate  in  competitions,  even  though  under  our  present 
system  of  industry  they  seem  to  be  a  necessary  institution. 

Competition  among  contractors  for  building  is  equally  to  be  con- 
demned, as  productive  of  the  most  serious  evils  to  the  public,  the 
architect,  the  building,  and  the  contractor  himself. 

The  general  rule  is  that  the  contract  shall  fall  to  the  lowest  Judder. 
Under  the  sharp  competition  of  the  building  trades  of  to-day,  a 
contractor  can  only  obtain  a  contract  by  offering  to  do  the  work  for  a 
sum  below  what  all  the  other  competitors  consider  safe.    Work  he 


37 


must  have,  however,  or  go  into  bankruptcy.  He  is  not  even  per- 
mitted to  know  liow  low  he  must  fi-^ure  to  get  it.  Considering  the 
tremendous  amount  of  detad  and  the  great  chances  of  error  attend- 
ing the  specification,  valuation  and  execution  of  an  important  build- 
ing to-day,  the  risk  on  tiie  part  of  the  contractor  is  very  great,  and 
the  temptation  to  dishonesty,  in  order  to  save  himself  and  family 
from  ruin,  when  he  discovers  he  has  estimated  below  the  cost  to  him, 
is  terrible.  The  result  is  endless  oi)portunity  for  litigation  and  the 
need  of  increasing  vigilance  on  the  part  of  the  architect  to  detect 
carelessness  and  fraud. 

All  this  -will  be  avoided  under  Nationalism.  All  buildings  will 
belong  to,  and  be  built  by,  the  nation.  When  architecture  becomes 
truly  national,  a  true  national  style  will  be  the  result. 

The  national-buildings  will  consist  of  magnificent  libraries, 
churches,  art-galleries,  music-halls,  theatres,  baths,  gymnasiums, 
warehouses,  samj)le-storep,  museums,  memorial  buildings,  academies 
of  science,  art  and  literature,  scliool-iiouses,  apartment-houses,  rail- 
road-stations, and  the  like.  There  will  be  no  mean  or  unimportant 
buildings,  because  there  will  be  no  necessity  nor  excuse  for  such. 

Comj)etition  among  architects  will  then  take  the  form  of  constant 
emulation  in  designing  all  these  great  buildings  in  the  truest,  and, 
therefore,  most  artistic  manner,  and  without  haste,  each  artist  being 
ambitious  to  execute  the  commissions  entrusted  to  him  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  deserve  the  approbation  of  his  fellow-citizens,  and  to 
contribute  something  to  the  progress  of  his  national  art.  The 
undignified  and  degrading  necessity  of  catering  to  the  whim  of  unar- 
tistic  and  irresponsible  individuals  will  not  mortify  the  artist  of  the 
twentiedi  century.  As  has  always  been  the  case  in  the  best  ages  of  art, 
all  things  will  be  treated  artistically,  and  all  buildings  will  be  e([ually 
important  in  the  eye  of  the  artist  and  worthv  of  calling  forth  his  best 
endeavors.  Therefore,  for  the  nation  to  require  several  architects 
to  elaborate  desiins  for  the  same  building  will  be  a  useless  waste  of 
energy  and  totally  unnecessary.  Those  architects  who  have  the 
greatest  genius  will  have  ample  opportunity  to  distincjuish  them- 
selves in  all  they  do,  and  if  their  creations,  in  the  constant  emulation 
of  their  daily  work  are  not  appreciated  by  a  cultivated  people,  then 
no  amount  of  special  competition,  under  the  less  favorable  conditions 
of  a  general  scramble  for  some  particular  building,  will  be  likely  to 
greatly  benefit  them.  On  the  other  hand,  young  architects  will  not 
need  the  opportunity  now  afforded  by  competitions  to  "  bring  them 
out."  'J'hey  will  be  thoroughly  trained,  at  the  expense  of  the  State,  in 
their  profession  before  being  called  upon  to  practise,  and  when  once 
allowed  to  enter  the  lists  with  their  fellow  artists,  abundant  oppor- 
tunity for  making  themselves  known  to  fame  will  be  afforded  them. 

As  I  have  remarked  before,  isolated  dwellings  for  individuals  will 
gradually  give  place  to  handsome  apartment-houses.  This,  indeed, 
will  not  only  be  desirable,  but  to  a  certain  extent  necessary,  since, 
when  domestics  "  cease  to  exist  as  a  class  in  the  social  economy, 
private  kitchens,  laundries,  heating  apparatus,  and  chambers  made 
for  these  domestics  will  of  necessity  disappear,  and  there  will  then 
be  so  little  left  to  build  separate  foundations,  roof  and  staircases  for, 
that  the  individual  dwelling  Avill  in  most  cases  be  given  up  as  an 
extravagance. 


S  a  IS  if  2S  -jox. 

Section  of  the  Pantheon  at  Rome. 

TfTHE  Romans  were  "  marvellous  builders,  nothing  more."  "  That 
i\\  which  is  admirable  in  the  Roman  architecture  of  the  Empire  is 
the  manifestation  it  presents  of  a  powerful  orjianizaiion."  The 
Roman,  says  Viollet-le-l)uc  "  disdained  art,  but  did  not  persecute  it, 
nor  did  he  modify  it  with  the  prejudice  or  caprice  of  an  amateur: 
he  did  not  enter  into  the  question  of  creeds  of  any  kind,  he  exacted 
nothing  but  respect  for  his  law  and  submission  to  Iiis  administrative 
and  political  sy>tem ;  little  would  he  sympathize  with  your  concern 
about  adopting  this  or  that  form,  provided  you  kept  to  the  practical 
conditions  he  imposed  upon  you;  such  matters  were  your  affairs, 
not  his.  But  art  is  like  religion  also  in  this,  that  mere  toleration  is 
not  enough  for  it;  it  requires,  lives  by,  sympathy;  and  when  it 
exists  among  people  who  content  themselves  with  not  being  hostile 
to  it,  who  excite  it  neither  by  adhesion  nor  criticism,  it  iiuisL 
necessarily  decline  :  this  explains  why  art  may  decline  even  undr  ra 
powerful  and  flourishing  empire  like  that  of  the  Romans  up  to  the 
time  of  Constantine." 

Roman  architecture  was  grand,  magnificent,  but  also  vuhar, 
becaui-e  the  construction  and  decoration  had  no  relation  to  one 
another  ;  you  may  remove  its  apparent  form,  its  casing  of  '•  orders," 
without  prejudice  to  its  stability. 

The  initial  cut  represents  in  section  the  Pantheon  at  Rome.  The 
construction  and  simple  method  of  lighting  is  admirable,  but  the 
treatment  of  the  decoration  is  abominable.     The  double  row  of 


39 


orders  veneering  the  interior  walls  have  no  constructive  propriety, 
are  out  of  all  harmony  with  each  other  and  appear  crushed  under  the 
colossal  details  of  the  vault  above. 

But  ill  spite  of  the  false  decoration,  there  is  an  element  of  grandeur 
and  stability  coming  from  the  solid  construction  of  the  great  Roman 
buildings  which  goes  far  to  compensate  for  their  defects.  Size  and 
stability  are  alone  sullicient  to  produce  grandeur  in  architectural 
design,  and  as  Fergusson  says  "where  sublimity  is  sought,  they  are 
the  two  elements  most  essential  to  its  production,  and  in  fact  the  two 
without  which  it  cannot  possibly  be  attained."  Xow,  under  the  com- 
petitive system  of  industry,  the  majority  of  our  mercantile  build- 
ings must  be  built  for  competitive  purposes,  which  necessarily  pro- 
hibits any  greater  solidity  than  is  absolutely  necessary  to  serve  the 
immediate  end  in  view.  The  risk  in  every  financial  enterprise  is 
too  great  to  permit  of  any  permanent  and  monumental  style  in  these 
buildings.  Fortunes  are  made  and  lost  in  a  day,  and  architecture 
must  faithfully  reflect  this  condition.  The  risk  increases  every  day 
with  the  increasing  social  discontent  arising  fr(>m  material 
ine(jualities,  and  instability  in  our  architecture  must  result  from  the 
instabihty  of  our  fortunes,  and  it  has  of  late  been  seriously  proposed 
by  some  of  our  merchants  to  construct  their  warehouses  of  wood 
covered  with  sheet  metal,  rather  than  stone,  on  account  of  fire-risks, 
and  in  the  city  of  Lynn  this  idea  has  actually  been  carried  out 
since  the  recent  fire. 

The  more  substantial  mercantile  buildings  of  to-day  are  the  result 
of  great  combinations  of  capital  and  give  a  forecast  of  what  the  still 
greater  combination  of  Nationalism  will  })roduce. 

Viollet-le-Duc  truly  says  We  must  look  upon  all  that  is  not 
made  for  the  public  —  the  entire  public  —  as  transient." 

Accordingly  we  find  in  this  feature  of  insecurity  and  the  conse- 
quent loss  of  an  essential  element  of  architectural  beauty,  solidity, 
a  sixth  influence  adverse  to  the  attainment  of  a  grand  style  under 
the  existing  system  of  industry. 

Nationalism,  on  the  other  hand,  will  furnish  all  the  elements  of 
social  stability,  and,  for  the  first  time  in  history,  the  absolute 
security  necessary  for  the  perfect  development  of  the  arts,  whereby 
will  be' attainable  in  architecture  not  alone  grandeur  but  sublimity, 
the  most  impressive  form  of  architectural  expression. 

Another  marked  characteristic  of  the  Roman  architecture  was 
vulgar  ostentation,  the  sole  desire  to  produce  an  outward  effect  of 
wealth  and  power.  The  Roman  Empire  was  made  up  of  three 
classes :  first,  the  wealthy  class,  absorbed  in  political  intrigues ; 
second,  the  free  plebeians,  who  were  barbarous  and  corrupt,  the 
tools  of  the  demagogues  and  wealthy  patricians;  and  third,  the 
slaves.  The  tendency  of  modern  civilization  is  to  reproduce  these 
three  classes,  with  whom  a  true  art  is  an  impossibility,  and  degrada- 
tion a  necessity.  There  is  this  difference,  however,  in  the  two 
states,  namely,  that  the  slaves  in  the  villa  of  the  Roman  patrician 
"were  certainly  better  lodged  and  treated  than  are  our  servants; 
they  had  their  separate  building,  their  baths  and  their  rooms  for 
exercise  or  amusement.  Without  regard  to  their  social  state,  these 
slaves  were  in  reality  more  free,  more  happy,  and  more  comfortably 
and  wholesomely  provided  for  than  are  the  domestics  of  any  wealthy 


40 


householder  of  the  present  day,  though  indeed  it  is  true  that  the 
former  had  an  intrinsic  value,  and  that  their  master  was  interested 
in  preserving  their  health  and  strength."  ( VioUet-le-Duc).  Yet 
such  domestics  are  notorioussly  far  better  provided  for  than  our 
poorer  classes  of  wage  earners. 

I  must  be  allowed  to  quote  once  more  from  the  greatest  of  writers 
on  architecture,  VioUet-le-Duc,  whose  genius  as  a  practical  architect 
and  cnn-ineer,  and  whose  profound  study  of  the  theory  and  history  of 
his  art°have  placed  him  in  the  highest  rank  as  an  authority  on  all 
matters  appertaining  thereto.  Jn  relation  to  the  subject  under 
consideration  he  writes  :  ^  The  Romans  never  discussed  questions 
of  artistic  principle;  they  were  never  enthusiasts;  they  were 
politicians  and  legislators;  .  .  .  they  administered  but  did  not 
civilize.  .  .  Subjected  to  the  Romans,  the  Greeks  were  only  skilful 
practitioners ;  and  this  cstabhshes  the  fact  that,  for  them  as  well  as 
for  all  other  gifted  nations,  self-government  is  the  only  condition  for 
the  healthy  development  of  art.  .  .  A  man  cannot  undertake  to 
tame  a  barbarian  (and,  to  the  Greek,  the  Roman  was  barbarous) 
without  becoming  somewhat  of  a  barbarian  himself;  and  woe  to  the 
artist  who  yields  to  a  master  without  sympathy  for  matters  of  art! 
The  Greeks,  then,  very  sensibly,  did  not  amuse  themselves  by  dis- 
cussing questions  of  style  with  the  Romans,  for  they  knew  they 
would^not  have  been  understood,  and,  while  submitting  to  the 
rigorous  conditions  imposed  by  the  Romans  upon  their  architectural 
problems,  they  contented  themselves  with  the  more  humble  duties  of 
decorator,  —  their  aim  was  only  to  gratify  the  pompous  taste  of  their 
masters,  and  to  charm  them,  if  possible,  by  a  brilliant,  if  not  elegant, 
execution."  As  with  the  Romans,  so  with  us  to-day.  "  '  Making 
an  appearance  '  has  been  the  order  of  the  day;  for  appearance  has 
been  readily  taken  for  the  reality,  and  the  tailor  has  made  the  man 
more  perhaps  than  at  any  other  time.  The  question  has  been,  who 
should  make  the  most  show.  .  .  Little  sterling  worth,  great  vanity 
and  de-ire  to  make  a  display,  and  as  the  result  of  this  a  social  con- 
dition in  which  envy  becomes  the  prime  mover  ;  that  is  an  incessant 
and  immoderate  desire  to  seem  grander  people  than  we  really  are, 
and  a  secret  hatred  for  all  that  is  produced  superior  to  what  we  can 
exhibit.  .  .  The  architecture  suited  to  our  times  is  not  an  art  that 
is  a  mere  luxury  for  the  delectation  of  a  few  amateurs,  a  select 
portion  of  society;  it  must  be  an  art  which  belongs  to  all.  .  .  It  is 
an  easy  thing  in  architecture  to  make  an  imposing  display,  with 
plenty  of  money  to  lavish;  the  real  difficulty  is  to  give  a  perfume  of 
art  to  the  most  common  and  the  most  simple  things,  and  to  know  how 
to  remain  sober  and  unostentatious  in  the  midst  of  splendor.  .  . 
When  art  has  become  a  mere  matter  of  luxury  to  the  few  and  an 
affair  of  simple  curiosity  and  wonder  to  the  many,  then  it  has  ceased 
to  be  true  art,  and  has  indeed  relapsed  into  barbarism  " 

Accordingly,  a  seventh  barrier  in  the  way  of  our  acquiring  a  worthy 
national  style,  under  the  existing  social  conditions,  is  the  same  which 
corrupted  the  architecture  of  imperial  Rome,  the  inordinate  desire 
for  ostentation,  especially  on  the  part  of  the  '■'nouveaux  riches,'*  a 


1 1  use,  in  my  quotations  from  Viollet-le-Duc's  "  Discourses,"  the  words  of  Mr, 
Van  Brunt's  admirable  translation. 


41 


class  rapidly  increasing  under  the  <;onditions  provided  by  the  "  lassez- 
Jhire,"  or  "  private  monopoly,"  system  of  industry. 

Still  another,  an  eiy/ith,  impediment  to  the  growth  of  architectural 
art  is  due  to  the  very  opposite  evil,  namely  poverty  and  parsimony. 
No  sooner  has  the  architect  become  interested  in  his  theme,  and 
elaborated  his  design  with  some  artistic  retiuement,  than  lie  is  di- 
rected to  "cut  down."  The  material  is  too  expensive  for  the  appro- 
priation. A  cheaper  one  must  be  substituted.  An  imitation  ur  a 
veneer  is  ordered  in  place  of  the  genuine  material.  A  little  here  and 
a  little  there  must  be  saved,  until  the  work  of  art  becomes  a  very 
commonplace  affair  indeed. 

Of  course,  a  due  regard  for  economy  does  not  of  itself  interfere 
with  artistic  expression.  On  the  contrary,  it  has  often  been  tlie  basis 
and  origin  of  style.  But  a  parsimony,  either  voluntary  or  forced, 
which  discourages  o.U  artistic  effort,  insists  upon  shams,  and  refuses 
improvements  in  sanitation  and  convenience,  involving  but  a  slight 
increase  in  cost,  is  an  evd  growing  out  of  the  existing  absurd  system 
of  industry,  of  tremendous  importance  in  its  effect  on  the  architecture 
of  our  country.  Everywhere  the  eye  is  accustomed  to  the  sight  of 
mean  and  sordid  structures,  hardly  one  in  a  hundred  showing  even 
an  attempt  at  artistic  treatment,  and  thus  the  public  taste  and  sym- 
pathy for  the  beautiful  is  blunted  by  the  constant  contemplation  of 
the  ba>e,  commonplace  and  uninteresting ;  and  it  is  certain  that  a 
refinement  or  distinction  in  architectural  style  can  result  only  from 
the  prevalence  of  refined  taste  throughout  all  grades  of  society  culti- 
vated in  an  atmosphere  of  art. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  effect  of  economy  in  hindering  the  devel- 
opment of  stjle,  1  may  instance  the  following: 

It  is  known  that  the  j)roducts  of  the  combustion  of  illuminating  gas 
are  highly  injurious  to  animal  and  vegetable  life,  a  single  ordinary 
fishtail  gas  burner,  used  in  a  room,  being  equivalent  to  from  four  to 
eight  men  in  air  consumption. 

Plants  are  killed,  books  and  textile  fabrics  injured,  silver  blackened 
and  lungs  corroded  by  the  sulphur  compounds  of  this  combustion.  It 
is,  therefore,  extremely  important,  where  gas  is  used  for  illuminating 
purposes,  thnt  the  burners  should  be  ventilated.  It  is  not  sufficient 
that  ventilating  openings  should  be  made  merely  in  the  ceiling  over 
the  gas-burner  or  chandelier,  as  is  the  custom  where  ventilation  is 
attempted  at  all,  because  openings  so  placed  carry  off  the  pure  air 
supply,  and  only  serve  their  purpose  of  removing  the  products  of  gas 
combustion  completely  when  made  large  enough  to  remove  all  the 
pure  heated  air  supply  as  well. 

In  most  buildings  the  fresh  air  supply  should  be  at  the  top  of  the 
room,  and  the  foul  air  exhaust  at  the  bottom.  Accordini^ly,  gas- 
burners  should  be  ventilated  immediately  at  the  jet,  and  with  flues 
large  enough  only  to  remove  the  products  of  combustion,  leaving  the 
surrounding  pure  air  unaffected.  With  this  end  in  view,  a  number  of 
ventilating  chandeliers,  two  of  which  are  shown  in  the  accompanying 
cuts  were  designed  for  a  hospital.  The  space  occupied  by  the  venti- 
lating flues  was  no  greater  than  that  ordinarily  taken  up  in  the  designs 
for  gas-fixtures  by  meaninfiles'*  scrolls  and  hollow  casings  applied 
solelv  for  the  purpose  of  increa-ing  the  apparent  Aveight  and  size  of  the 
gas  supply  pipe  and  improving  its  contour.    But,  as  no  chandeliers 


42 


had  at  lhat  time  been  made  after  the  principle  shown  in  these  designs, 
tlxeir  exp^.-ase  would  have  somewhat  exceeded  that  of  ordinary  JixiureSy 
and  for  this  reason  the  idea  of  using  tliem  in  the  liospital  was  finally 
abandoned.  The  lower  chandelier  in  the  cut  was  designed  for  the 
dining-room,  and  had  eight  burners  surrounding  a  central  jet,  with 
reflectoi'.  A  bell  was  formed  directly  over  the  central  burner,  from 
which  ascended  the  main  ventilating  flue,  enclosing  the  gas  supply 
pipe.  An  annular  bell,  over  the  eight  surrounding  burners,  collected 
their  products  of  combustion,  and  carried  them,  by  branch  pipes,  into 
the  central  flue.  All  the  flues  and  bells  were  constructed  double,  with 
suitably  ventilated  interspace.-^,  as  a  protection  against  djscoloration 
by  heat.  The  lower  rim  of  each  bell  was  provided  with  a  small 
gutter,  to  catch  the  water  of  condensation.  The  upper  figure  was 
designed  for  the  parlor  of  the  hospital,  the  elevation  being  shown  on 
the  left  and  the  section  on  the  right.  Both  of  the  designs  were  kept 
simple,  in  accordance  with  the  instructions  of  the  Building  Commit- 
tee. J3ut,  evidently,  designs  of  great  beauty  might  be  made  on  this 
principle,  and  a  proper  development  of  tiie  idea  would  have  given 
infinitely  more  "  style  "  in  the  design  of  gas  chandeliers  than  the 
senseless  elaboration  of  useless  piping  which  has  been  the  fashion. 
By  this  arrangement,  not  oidy  might  the  air  of  the  room  have  been 
maintained  pure  from  gas  contamination,  but  the  heat  generated  by 
the  burners  would  have  been  sufficient,  properly  applied,  to  have  ex- 
hausted the  foul  air  from  the  entire  building  at  the  time  of  day  when, 
the  greatest  quantity  is  generated,  namely,  when  all  the  occupants  of 
the  building  are  collected  within  the  liouse  at  evening  in  the  dining 
or  reading  room.  Nevertheles'^,  after  the  estimates  of  cost  had 
been  obtained  for  manufacturing  these  ventilating  chandeliers,  the 
Committee  found  they  would  exceed  their  appropriation,  and  aban- 
doned the  idea  of  using  them. 

Now,  therefore,  owing  to  this  unfortunate,  though  entirely  consci- 
entious, economy  of  the  Committee,  the  occupants  of  these  rooms  at 
night  are  obliged,  when  the  ordinary  chandeliers  ai'e  fully  used,  to 
breathe  air  contaminated  not  only  by  their  own  exhalations,  but  by 
the  combustion  of  a  dozen  burners,  equivalent,  in  the  fresh  air  pollu- 
tion, to  at  least  72  adults. 

Under  the  belief  that,  if  the  importance  of  sanitary  gas-fixtures  as 
ventilators  could  once  be  appreciated  by  the  public,  suitable  designs 
would  immediately  be  furnished  by  specialists  in  chandelier  work,, 
which  could  be  executed  at  a  cost  as  low  as  corresponding  ones  con- 
structed with  the  ordinary  sham  casing  and  scroll  woi  k;  a  number  of 
designs,  with  descriptions,  of  these  ventilating  chandeliers  we^-e  pub- 
lished in  1883,  in  a  book  on  the  heating  and  ventilating  of  buildings, ^ 
and  a  prominent  firm  of  manufacturers  of  chandeliers  executed  one 
of  these  designs,  and  put  themselves  to  some  expense  in  the  effort  to 
create  a  demand  for  them.  It  is  doubtful,  however,  now  that  electric 
lighting  is  supplanting  gas,  if  the  ventilating  chandelier  will  ever 
become  fashionable.  The  public  are  not  alive  to  its  importance 
where  gas  is  still  used,  and  no  one  cares  to  pay  the  first  cost  of  intro- 
ducing them,  consisting  in  making  novel  designs  after  a  principle 
totally  new  in  chandelier  work,  requiring  unusually  skilful  specialists 
and  an  extensive  plant,  new  patterns,  moulds  and  spinning  blocks. 


The  Open  Fire  Place  in  All  Ages,"  published  by  Ticknor  &  Company,  Boston, 


43 


necessary  for  their  execution  on  a  largo  or  paying  scale.  The  public 
will  not,  and  the  manufacturers  cannot,  undertake  this  expense. 
Each  waits  for  the  other,  and  thus  nothing  is  done. 

One  other  illustration  of  the  lamentable  effect  on  our  architecture 


Ventilating  Chandeliers,  from  "  The  Open  Fireplace  in  All  Ages." 


of  the  false  economy  necessitated  by  the  existing  method  of  leaving 
to  individuals  duties  and  responsibilities  which  should  be  borne  by 
the  nation,  must  suffice  under  this  heading. 


44 


There  is  no  work  wliicli  can  more  properly  claim  the  hif^hest  wis- 
dom and  resources  of  the  whole  people  than  the  education,  both 
mental  and  physical,  of  our  school  cliildren.  Their  trainin<^  should 
be  entrusted  only  to  those  who  are  most  thoroughly  ecpiipped  by 
nature  and  education  for  the  work,  and  the  schoolhouses  should  be 
built  in  the  most  perfect  manner  known  to  the  art  of  architecture, 
not  alone  from  a  sanitary  and  truly  economic,  but  also  from  an  artistic 
point  of  view,  all  these  items  being  necessary  for  the  complete  physi- 
cal, intellectual  and  moral  development  of  the  children.  This  truth 
is  admitted  by  every  one,  yet  unde-r  Nationalism  alone  is  its  practical 
application  possible.  So  long  as  the  existing  state  of  society  lasts, 
many  children  will,  and  must,  be  turned  over  for  their  schooling  to 
irresponsible  and  incompetent  teachers,  and  confined  in  insanitary 
and  unsightly  school  buildings,  for  the  simple  reason  that  the  majority 
of  small  country  towns  and  isolated  communities,  which,  as  compared 
with  the  nation,  become  nothing  more  than  irresponsible  individuals, 
do  not  and  cannot  possess  the  means  and  intelligence  to  do  other- 
wise. Almost  any  architect  can  testify  to  the  tiaith  of  this  from  in- 
stances comino:  within  his  j^ersonal  experience.  A  particularly 
striking  one,  which  must  serve  for  my  illustration  is  the  following: 

A  Town  Committee  was  aj)pointed  to  build  a  schoolhouse.  The 
Committee  knew,  however  nothing  whatever  about  the  requirements 
of  the  building,  exce[)t  that  it  must  be  large  enough  to  box  in  all  the 
children  who  could  afford  to  go  there,  and  that  a  certain  sum  of 
money  had  been  appropriated  for  the  purpose.  The  plans  were 
drawn,  howevt-r,  Avith  great  care,  especially  as  to  sanitation.  Ducts 
for  foul  air  exhaust  were  carefully  arranged,  so  as  to  perfectly  venti- 
late all  parts  of  the  building  at  all  times,  and  to  the  extent  needed, 
without  great  expense  either  in  first  cost  or  in  use,  and  the  foul  air 
was  expelled  by  means  of  the  heat  of  the  smoke  of  the  heating  appa- 
ratus, through  a  somewhat  ornamental  chimney,  prominent  in  the 
design  of  the  exterior. 

The  committee  sat  on  the  design,  accepted  it  with  expressions  of 
approval  and  ordered  it  to  be  executed  under  their  own  superin- 
tendence. It  was  executed.  When  the  outside  had  been  completed 
and  the  great  ornamental  ventilating  chimney  had  been  built,  the 
committee  decided  to  "cut  down"  in  the  expense  of  finishing,  and 
all  the  ventilating  ducts  were,  without  a  word's  notice  to  the  architect, 
(juietly  omitted!  Absolutely  no  provision  for  air  supply  or  exhaust 
was  substituted  in  its  place,  and  the  magnificent  exhaust  chimney 
with  its  scientific  flues,  became  a  hollow  mockery  and  an  architect- 
ural monstrosity.  To-day  the  miserable  school-children  are  breath- 
ing over  and  over  again  one  another's  breath,  while  the  townspeople 
look  upon  the  mammoth  chimney  with  as  much  pride  and  pleasure  as 
if  it  were  really  performing  its  legitimate  office  of  pumping  pure  air 
through  the  lungs  of  their  children. 

The  lesson  we  have  to  learn  from  Roman  architecture  is  not 
entirely  a  negative  one.  The  construction  and  planning  of  their 
public  buildinfrs  is  worthy  of  the  highest  admiration  whatever  may  be 
said  of  their  elevations.  Particularly  applicable  to  our  present  subject 
is  the  study  of  their  magnificent  public  baths — a  study  which 
Nationalism  will  render  fruitful  in  a  practical  way.  The  Roman 
Empire  set  a  noble  example  to  all  succeeding  nations,  of  furnishing 


45 


the  whole  people  with  the  kixury  and  salubrity  of  public  baths  on  a 
grand  and  liberal  scale. 

We,  who  call  ourselves  civilized,  allow  the  masses  to  live  in  filth, 
though  rivers  and  oceans  of  ])ure  water  flow  everywhere  at  our  feet, 
and  machinery  for  transporting,  storing,  heating  and  cooling  that 
water,  far  superior  to  that  which  the  Romans  employed,  is  at  our 
disposal.  Yet  the  poorer  classes  reek  in  filth,  and  loathsome  epi- 
demics spread  over  the  whole  community  in  consequence  of  our 
neglect. 

The  magnificent  baths  of  Caracalla,  however,  give  us  a  faint  idea 
of  what  Nationalism  will  do  for  the  people  in  this  direction. 

In  the  front  part  of  the  building  on  each  side  of  the  main  entrance 
are  small  private  baths  in  two  stories  for  those  who  do  not  care  to 
enter  the  main  building. 

The  main  entrance  to  the  public  baths  is  through  a  grand  portal 
in  the  centre  of  the  front.  We  enter  a  vast  building  containing 
great  swimming  baths  of  cold,  tepid  and  hot  water,  each  with  spa- 
cious vestibules,  dressing  and  service  rooms  and  other  ap[)urtenances 
and  all  grouped  in  such  a  manner  as  to  give  the  utmost  convenience 
of  access  and  egress  without  draughts  or  danger  from  overcrowding 
or  disorder. 

Within  the  enclosure  are  gardens  and  fountains  and  courts  for 
games  and  gymnastic  exercises,  provided  with  seats  for  spectators. 
We  find  also  porticos  and  pavilions  for  lectures  and  discussions  and 
libraries  and  reading-rooms  for  study. 

The  perspective  view  represents  a  restoration  of  the  cold  bath,  or' 
frujidarium,  which  is  the  largest  hall  in  this  building. 

it  is  open  to  the  sky,  under  the  principle  that  protection  from 
rain  is  unnecessary  for  bathers  in  cold  water  in  a  climate  like  Kome. 
The  warm  bath,  tepidarium,  seen  in  the  view  beyond  the  three  great 
arches,  is  roofed  over,  as  is  also  the  hot  bath,  caldarium. 

A  ninth  reason  for  the  decline  of  architecture  under  the  existing 
system  of  exclusiveness  and  individualism,  is  that  the  sister  arts  of 
painting  and  sculpture  have  been  divorced  from  architecture. 

In  the  grand  styles,  the  former  existed  with  and  for  the  latter, 
which,  in  its  turn,  was  worthy  of  the  distinction  of  claiming  paint- 
ing and  sculpture  as  her  handmaidens;  and  it  was  in  the  harmonious 
union  of  the  three  that  the  greatest  distinction  of  each  lay. 

Then  the  artist  forgot  himself  in  his  art,  and  we  seldom  find  his 
name  inscribed  upon  his  works.  Now  the  artist  forgets  his  art  in 
himself,  and  the  aim  of  each  individual  is  to  make  his  own  work  the 
most  prominent  feature  in  the  completed  building,  and  each  takes 
good  care  that  his  name  shall  appear  in  as  conspicuous  a  place  as 
possible.  How  could  it  be  otherwise  with  the  poor  artist,  whose 
family  depend  upon  this  advertisement,  perhaps,  for  their  privilege 
of  existing! 

Paintings  and  statuary  are  executed  entirely  apart  from,  and 
independent  of,  architecture,  and  when  afterward  they  are  brought 
together,  they  as  often  mutually  injure  as  improve  each  other 
through  want  of  harmony  of  expression  and  scale. 

Finally  the  tenth  and  last  corrupting  influence  upon  our  architect- 
ure is  the  indifference  of  the  masses  to  the  essential  element  in 
design  of  truth. 


46 


47 


The  present  is  an  age  of  hypocrisy  and  misrepresentation.  Our 
whole  social  and  industrial  system  is  founded  on  the  colossal  incon- 
sistency of  permitting,  in  a  nominally  free  country,  one  individual  to 
practically  own  the  soul  and  body  of  another.  In  a  country  where 
"all  men  are  born  with  ecjual  rights  before  the  law,  "  twenty-five  thou- 
sand ])ersons,  in  appropriating  from  the  rest  one  half  of  all  that  is 
produced  by  the  entire  sixty  millions,  create  a  conflict  under  which 
a  vast  majority  of  the  entire  energy  of  the  whole  is  wasted. 
Industrial  Avarfare  breeds  dishonesty  as  its  necessary  fruit,  and  cor- 
ruption even  in  the  highest  offices  of  the  country  has  become  so 
common  as  to  be  accepted  as  a  matter  of  course. 

With  so  general  a  disregard  for  the  truth  in  everyday  matters,  we 
cannot  expect  to  find  a  strict  observance  or  appreciation  of  it  in  art, 
and  so  long  as  a  system  of  industry  exists  which  places  a  premium 
on  dishonesty,  falsehood  will  continue  to  appear  everywhere  in 
design.  We  shall  continue  to  see  columns  whose  form  indicates  the 
function  of  support,  used  as  a  decorative  veneer  upon  facades  where 
they  support  nothing  ;  cornices  and  pediments  elaborately  designed 
with  the  sole  view  of  shedding  rain  water,  used  in  interiors  where 
rain  never  falls;  sham  windows  and  doors  built  upon  blank  walls; 
buttresses  erected  against  piers  having  no  interior  vaulting  to  sustain ; 
walls  massive  enough  in  desirrn  to  serve  for  a  fortress  or  tower,  sup- 
porting the  lightest  of  structures,  and  cheap  materials  everywhere 
used  in  imitation  of  expensive  ones. 

Where  such  falsehoods  exist,  style  in  architecture  is  impossible, 
since  style  in  art  consists  only  in  a  graceful  expression  of  the  truth. 

Thus  we  find  that  Nationalism  will  reproduce  all  the  conditions 
favorable  to  the  development  of  a  noble  style  of  architecture,  and 
eliminate  the  many  unfavorable  ones  at  present  existing. 

With  the  great  advances  made  in  the  present  century  in  the  sci- 
ence, materials  and  machinery  of  building,  corresponding  advances 
would  have  been  made  in  the  art  of  architectur  e  had  the  social  con- 
ditions been  less  adverse.  For  a  more  complex  and  perfect  civiliza- 
tion permits  of  a  higher  form  of  art  expression,  just  as,  in  the  animal 
world,  a  higher  type  of  beauty  is  possible  with  man  than  with  the 
mullusk.  So,  in  architecture,  the  higher  civilization  and  the  many 
new  and  peculiar  conditions  furnished  by  Nationalism  must  of  neces- 
sity evolve  a  style  as  much  nobler  than  any  which  has  preceded  as 
the  civilization  itself  will  surpass  that  of  any  other  age. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  ])eculiar  features  which  will  distinguish 
this  new  style,  we  may  take  the  element  of  "  extensiveness."  Build- 
ings capable  of  accommodating  the  vast  assemblies  which  the  co- 
operative system  in  a  great  nation  will  bring  together,  must  be  con- 
structed on  a  far  grander  scale  than  anything  heretofore  known,  and 
new  methods  of  construction  will  be  required,  involving  the  use  of 
metal  and  all  the  science  and  skill  of  the  engineer.  Undoubtedly,  by 
the  use  of  aluminum  and  aluminum-bronzes  in  place  of  stone  and 
wood,  in  vaulting,  framing  and  finish,  a  lightness,  strength  and  power 
of  resistance  to  fire  will  be  attained,  which  will  enable  areasof  a  magni- 
tude hitherto  undreamed  of  to  be  safely  covered  without  interior 
support,  and  thus  this  element  of  extensiveness,  when  combined  with 
strength  and  refined  with  art,  will  yield  a  style  of  architecture  incom- 
parably grand,  and  fitly  characterized  only  by  the  word  sublime. 


w 


^^^^ 


'E  have  based 
our  calcula- 
tions as  to 
the  amount  of 
wealth  annually 
produced  under 
Nationalism  upon 
the  supposition 
that  application  to 
work  on  the  j)art 
of  the  peojjle  will 
then  he  only  as 
close  as  it  is 
at  present. 

There  are,  how- 
ever, many  reasons 
for  believing  that 
application  will  be 
far  more  intense 
and  its  productive- 
ness correspond- 
ingly increased, 
and  that  idleness 
will  be  compara- 
tively rare  in  a 
social  state  in 
which  faithful  in- 
dividual effort  is 
assured  the  reward 
of  all  that  is 
desirable  and  in 
which  disgrace 
and  deprivation 
are  sure  to  follow 
indolence  or 
neglect. 

i^fter  what  has  already  been  said  in  this  article  it  might  seem 
superfluous  to  consider  further  these  incentives  for  application,  but  so 
much  depends  upon  a  clear  understanding  of  this  point  which  has 
so  often  been  a  stumbling-block  for  those  who  discuss  Nationalism 
without  knowing  what  it  is,  that  a  few  words  in  relation  to  incentive 
will  be  pardoned. 

In  just  what  manner  the  wealth  of  our  Cooperative  Commonwealth 
will  be  distributed  among  the  citizens  for  their  services,  it  is  evidently 
impossible  to  foretell.  Probably  in  different  ways  at  different  stages 
in  the  nationalization  of  industry,  the  principle  of  distribution  on  a 
basir,  of  c^^ffort  rather  than  ahilil/j  becoming  more  and  more  recog- 
nized. This  is  clearly  the  only  just  basis  of  distribution,  and  is 
accordingly,  for  this  reason,  in  the  end  inevitable.  Th«  capacity 
for  wealth  production  of  a  nation  being  the  result  of  ages  of  civiliza- 
tion, every  individual,  as  a  product  of  that  civilization,  is  entitled  to 
an  equal  share  of  the  wealth  due  thereto,  irrespective  of  any  special 


49 


ability  or  lack  of  ability  he  may  individually  have  received  from 
nature  or  education,  provided  only  that  he  does  his  best. 

As  in  the  private  family  it  is  seen  to  be  just  that  each  child  should 
receive  an  equal  share  in  the  family  goods  irrespective  of  his  mental 
or  physical  ability,  the  feebIe^t  in  mind  or  body  receiving  even 
greater  rather  than  less  attention  as  a  partial  compensation  for  their 
natural  deficiency.  So  in  the  great  human  family  which  is  but  an 
extension  through  a  number  of  generations  of  the  private  family 
justice  and  humanity  will  demand  the  same  material  consideration 
for  all  who  do  their  duty  irrespective  of  the  accidents  of  their  birth. 

Two  brothers,  A  and  B,  have  inherited  to-day  equal  wealth.  A 
war  breaks  out.  A,  being  patriotic,  leaves  home  and  family  to  serve  his 
country.  He  is  wounded  in  battle  and  loses  forever  his  ability  to 
provide  for  his  family.  B  is  unpatriotic  and  selfish.  He  remains 
at  home  and  amasses  a  princely  fortune  in  army  contracts.  The 
descendants  of  the  patriot,  deprived  of  capital  and  education,  sink 
lower  and  lower  under  the  heartless  struggle  for  existence,  called  free 
competition,  in  which  now  only  giants  can  succeed,  while  those  of 
the  unpatriotic  brother,  the  "individualist,"  obtain  the  highest  edu- 
cation and  enjoy  every  form  of  luxury. 

Every  one  recognizes  this  as  unjust,  but  all  do  not  see  that  the 
community  in  recognizing  a  system  of  unrestricted  competition  in 
industry  is  responsible  for  it.  The  descendants  of  A  and  B  are 
equally  entitled,  so  long  as  they  do  their  duty,  to  an  equal  share  in 
the  fruits  of  civilization  irrespective  of  the  action  of  any  particular 
individual,  or  individuals,  in  the  line  of  their  pedigree,  since  all  are 
descended  from  the  same  common  stock  —  children  in  the  same 
human  family  —  which  produced  those  fruits.  Hence  the  nation 
should  own  all  the  machinery  of  production  in  order  that  this  equal 
distribution  may  become  practicable. 

But,  inasmuch,  as  the  nation  is  gradually  assuming  control  of  certain 
industries  which  already  owe  their  existence  to  governmental  inter- 
vention or  franchise,  there  is  and  will  continue  some  time  to  be  a 
transition  period,  in  which  a  basis  of  distribution  in  proportion  to 
ability  will  prevail. 

In  this  article,  however,  I  refer  to  Nationalism  only  in  its  completed 
and  perfected  form,  and  assume  a  basis  of  equal  distribution  depen- 
dent upon  effort  alone. 

The  principle  of  equal  pecuniary  reward  to  all  workers  irrespective 
of  their  productive  ability  has  been  the  cause  of  much  unfavorable 
criticism  of  Nationalism  for  three  reasons  :  First,  on  the  ground  that 
such  equal  distribution  would  deprive  many  having  superior  ability 
and  industry,  of  luxuries  which  they  are  now  able  to  obtain ;  second, 
that  it  would  lead  to  a  wholesale  shirking  of  work  by  the  lazy  and 
selfish,  and  third,  on  account  of  a  false  idea  that  a  pecuniary  reward  is  the 
only  one  which  will,  or  ever  can  appeal  to  the  average  human  being. 

The  first  of  these  three  objections  is  answered  the  moment  we 
fully  realize  the  prodigious  increase  of  productiveness  effected  by 
Nationalism,  whereby  more  than  suflicient  is  produced  to  provide 
every  individual  with  every  want  and  luxury  which  can  reasonably 
be  desired  in  a  community  of  workers. 

Let  us  examine  the  second. 

Idleness,  which  under  the  competitive  system  is  not  only  allowed 


50 


but  even  encouraged,  would  be  discouraged  under  Nationalism  by 
universal  condemnation. 

To-day  unproductiveness  on  the  part  of  the  wealthy  is  regarded 
rather  as  a  mark  of  distinction  than  the  reverse,  and  in  England,  as 
a  necessary  condition  of  the  highest  social  distinction,  whereas  under 
Nationalism,  it  will  be  regarded  as  the  most  j)rofound  disgrace. 

Now  moral  and  intellectual  effort  and  achievement,  the  real  wealth 
producers,  stand  below  financial  shrewdness  in  the  rewards  and 
honors  of  society. 

Under  Nationalism  they  will  attain  the  highest  rewards  and 
honors  within  the  bestowal  of  the  people,  because  it  will  be  for  the 
interest  of  all  to  have  this  so. 

Now,  not  only  is  there  no  law  for  the  adequate  ])unishment  of 
idleness,  but  in  the  present  condition  of  things  there  could  be  none. 
The  tramp  maybe  imprisoned,  but  imprisonment  for  the  tramp  means 
comparative  comfort  and  security.  He  has  nothing  to  lose,  and  this 
is  the  case  with  most  idlers  in  the  two  extremes  of  social  position. 

Under  Nationalism  idleness  will  be  punished  by  disgrace  and  the 
deprivation  of  all  the  great  wealth  and  luxuries  the  nation  would 
otherwise  bestow. 

Under  the  present  system,  work  is  arduous  and  unceasing.  Under 
Nationalism  it  will  become  the  pleasurable  exercise  of  one's  strongest 
faculties  and  tastes  for  a  definite  and  useful  purpose,  an  exercise 
which  increases  in  intensity  of  interest  as  those  faculties  and  tastes 
are  developed  by  cultivation. 

Man  is  by  na.ture  ambitious  and  active.  Indolence  is  the  result  of 
disease  or  discouragement.  When  in  a  normal  and  healthy  condition, 
man,  like  all  animals  delights  in  the  exercises  of  all  his  functions.  Such 
exercise  is  a  structural  necessity  the  neglect  of  which  results  in  pain. 
No  severer  punishment  can  be  inflicted  upon  a  vigorous  nature  than 
forced  inactivity.  When  each  individual  is  allowed  to  pursue  the 
special  activity  for  which  he  is  best  fitted,  as  will  be  the  case  under 
Nationalism,  the  danger  will  be,  not  that  he  will  work  too  little  but 
that  he  will  work  too  much.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  under 
the  competitive  system  every  kind  of  occupation  is  and  must  be  made 
more  or  less  disagreeable  by  the  very  nature  itself  of  the  competitive 
struggle,  and  it  is  this  alone  which  now  renders  work  arduous.  Thus 
in  the  practice  of  architecture,  the  detective,  legal  and  financial 
duties,  worries  and  limitations,  and  the  hurry  necessitated  by  the 
competitive  state  are  the  items  and  the  only  ones  which  render  the 
occupation  of  the  architect  irksome.  Under  Nationalism  the  ex- 
pression "  work "  will  acquire  an  entirely  new  meaning.  It  will 
signify  "  interesting  occupation  "  which  corresponds  simply  with  our 
expression  ^^play  " ;  the  only  difference  being  that  it  will  be  of  the 
kind  in  which  the  interest  constantly  increases  through  life  with  the 
increasing  knowledge  and  skill  gradually  acquired  in  the  game  as  it 
progresses. 

When  the  interests  of  all  become  identical,  there  will  be  a  strong 
and  common  motive  to  make  every  occupation  as  pleasant  as 
possible,  and  when  the  united  energy  of  an  entire  people  is  directed 
upon  the  attainment  of  this  object,  success  will  be  certain.  The 
architect  of  industrial  buildings  instead  of  being  hampered  by  restric- 
tions urged  in  the  interest  of  larger  profits  to  capitalists  will  be 


51 


encouraged  to  plan  and  construct  workrooms  healthy,  comfortable 
and  attractive  by  thorough  ventilation,  lighting  and  every  form  of 
sanitary  construction  and  appropriate  artistic  treatment ;  this  new- 
motive  for  making  every  occupation  as  pleasant  as  possible  will  be  a 
strong  incentive  to  sup])lant  by  machinery  all  those  kinds  of  manual 
work  which  are,  by  their  nature,  unhealthy,  dangerous,  or  especially 
disagreeable. 

The  third  cause  of  criticism,  that  a  pecuniary  reward  is  the  only 
one  which  can  possibly  appeal  to  the  average  man,  has  been  to  a  great 
extent  answered  by  what  has  already  been  written. 

This  much,  however,  may  be  added,  that  whatever  may  be  the 
success  of  the  method  of  recompense  proposed  under  Nationalism  for 
the  encouragement  of  good  work,  the  method  now  in  vogue  must  be 
pronounced  a  total  failure.  The  hardest  workers  now  as  a  rule 
receive  the  smallest  pecuniary  reward  and  honesty  and  generosity 
stand  little  chance  before  sharpness  and  selfishness. 

The  money  guage  is  evidently  totally  inadequate  to  measure 
intellectual  effort.  The  custom  of  guaging  the  value  of  an  artist's 
work,  for  instance,  by  a  uniform  percentage  on  the  cost  of  the  build- 
ing tends  constantly  to  the  deterioration  of  his  art.  In  a  society 
which  pretends  to  make  the  reward  proportional  to  ability,  the  high- 
est intellectual  and  emotional  effort  is  measured  by  the  same  material 
standard  as  a  purely  mechanical  or  speculative  operation  backed 
only  by  large  capital.  The  designing  of  a  cathedral  may  produce  as 
much  as  the  commission  on  a  cargo  of  hogs  or  on  the  speculation  of 
a  stock  gambler,  either  of  which  might  require  but  the  writing  of  a 
single  letter. 

Under  Nationalism  no  attempt  is  made  to  perform  the  impossible 
task  of  measuring  mental  effort  by  material  standards.  Cooperation 
enables  the  nation  to  furnish  its  citizens  freely  with  all  the  material 
wants,  and  intellectual  ability  and  effort  are  recognized  and  rewarded 
by  promotion  into  higher  intellectual  authority. 

But  even  if  pecuniary  reward  were  made  dependent  upon  ability 
(real  and  not  fictitious)  under  Nationalism,  instead  of  upon  effort,  the 
result  would,  after  all,  in  either  case,  be  very  nearly  the  same.  For 
it  must  be  remembered  that  all  education  being  free,  every  individual 
will  be  supported  by  the  State  during  the  courses  of  schooling  and 
apprenticeship  for  life's  work,  or,  say,  up  to  the  age  of  25.  Then,  if 
we  assume  that  compulsory  service  to  the  nation  terminates  at  the  age 
of  45  or  50,  after  which  the  nation  resumes  the  support  of  its  citizens, 
pensioning  those  who  have  manfully  labored  to  support  the  nation  in 
peace  as  it  now  does  those  who  have  bravely  slaughtered  their  brethren 
for  their  country  in  war,  there  will  remain  only  from  20  to  25  years, 
which  will  be  affected  by  the  question  of  method  of  remuneration. 

Under  the  influence  of  mutual  helpfulness  which  common  interests 
would  foster  all  work  will  become  respectable  and  respected.  There 
will  be  no  so-called  "menial"  service.  There  will  be  none  of  the 
senseless  distinctions  in  the  "  respectability  "  of  different  occupations 
which  exist  now ;  as,  for  instance,  between  gambling  at  wholesale 
as  in  the  stock-exchange  and  at  retail,  as  at  the  gaming-table,  the 
former  being  eminently  respectable,  though  infinitely  more  injurious 
to  society  as  affecting  countless  outsiders ;  and  the  latter  eminently 
disgraceful,  though  harmful  only  to  the  individual  gambler,  himself. 


52 


Or,  as  between  the  skilful  mechanic  and  the  wealthy  Corporation 
Treasurer  of  to-day,  the  former  often  requiring  infinitely  more  brains 
and  experience  than  the  latter,  who  may  delegate  the  real  work  to 
assistants.  Yet  custom  places  the  latter  occupation  far  higher, 
socially  and  financially,  than  the  former. 

Under  Nationalism  a  liberal  education  will  be  given  alike  to  all^ 
and  machinery  and  organization  will  do  much  of  the  work  now  left 
to  individuals,  relieving  men  of  unhealthy  and  tedious  drudgery  on 
the  one  hand,  and  of  extraordinary  responsibility  on  the  other. 

The  marvellous  financial  and  executive  ability  now  required  of 
business  managers  to  launch  and  afterwards  pilot  safely  through  the 
stormy  seas  of  competition,  every  important  mercantile  or  speculative 
enterprise  of  to-day,  will  be  supplanted  by  the  perfect  system  of  the 
great  industrial  army  of  Nationalism.  Then  the  duties  and  responsi- 
bilities under  this  system,  both  of  officers  and  men,  will  be  so  equally 
distributed  among  all  the  workers  that  none  will  ever  feel  overbur- 
dened by  an  undue  share.  Accordingly  the  remuneration  of  all 
workers,  even  on  a  basis  of  ability,  would  be  far  more  equal  than 
now,  and  those  who  fear  disastrous  results  from  the  adoption  of  the 
juster  basis,  very  greatly  overestimate  the  danger. 

To  illustrate  my  meaning  let  us  imagine  for  instance  a  possible 
manner  in  which  the  Department  of  Architecture  may  be  organized 
under  a  Nationalist  administration,  without  assuming,  of  course,  that 
the  details  introduced  for  the  purpose  of  completing  the  picture- are 
indispensable  to  the  general  plan. 

In  order  that  architects  may  supervise  the  erection  of  the  structures 
they  design,  the  national  architectural  offices  will  have  to  be  dis- 
tributed throughout  the  country  in  accordance  with  the  requirements 
of  each  locality  ;  and  for  the  convenience  of  the  profession  they  will 
be  built  adjoining  the  great  sample-stores  of  the  district.  Evidently 
a  much  smaller  number  of  architects  will  be  required  for  a  given 
amount  of  building  than  now.  Probably  a  very  small  proportion  of 
the  architects  and  draughtsmen  now  practising  in  Boston,  if  method- 
ically employed,  and  relieved  of  the  legal,  financial  and  competitive 
work  now  exacted  of  them,  could  suffice  for  the  purely  architectural 
work  they  perform.  But  under  Nationalism,  however,  the  duties  of 
engineer  and  draughtsman  will  devolve  upon  the  architect,  and  as 
the  enormous  increase  of  national  wealth  will  increase  also  the 
amount  of  building,  all  of  which  will  be  placed  in  charge  of  architects, 
the  profession  will  undoubtedly  be  much  larger  in  proportion  to  the 
population  than  now. 

Accordingly  the  department  of  architecture,  sculpture,  and  paint- 
ing for  the  Boston  district  will  comprise  a  hundred  or  more  archi- 
tects. They  will  occupy  a  building  appropriately  designed  for  the 
purpose,  and  as  the  structure  will  stand  as  a  permanent  expres- 
sion of  the  state  of  our  national  art  at  the  period  of  its  erection,  its 
proper  architectural  treatment  both  exterior  and  interior  will  be 
a  matter  of  patriotic  solicitude  to  every  citizen. 

As  it  is  indispensable  for  the  highest  development  of  architecture 
that  sculpture  and  painting  be  closely  allied  thereto,  or  rather,  form 
an  essential  part  thereof,  the  same  building  will  as  intimated  contain 
also  the  studios  of  sculptors  and  painters  as  well  as  a  museum  of  the 
best  products  of  these  allied  arts. 


53 


The  site  will  be  made  worthy  of  the  structure  by  landscape  gar- 
dening, fountains  and  statuary,  arranged  in  such  a  manner  that  the 
approach  shall  do  honor  to  the  monument.  The  building  itself,  both 
without  and  within,  will  be  richly  adorned  with  color  and  sculpture 
appropriate  to  its  purpose  and  an  atmosphere  of  refinnient  will  per- 
vade every  part  inspiring  the  occupants  fittingly  for  their  work.  It 
will  face  diagonally  with  the  points  of  the  compass  in  order  that  all 
sides  may  be  reached  by  the  direct  rays  of  the  sun  at  some  time 
during  the  day,  the  new  streets  of  the  city  being  laid  out  with  this 
in  view. 

There  will  be  no  "  draughtsmen  "  in  the  present  acceptation  of  th6 
word.  Every  part  and  detail  of  a  building  being  equally  important 
in  the  eye  of  the  artist  will  be  the  work  of  his  own  hand.  The 
enlarging  and  copying  of  drawings  will  be  done  by  photographic  and 
other  mechanical  j>rocesses  conducted  in  a  special  department  of  the 
building  devoted  thereto.  Thus,  after  the  architect  has  drawn  his 
quarter-inch-scale  working-plans,  they  will  be  taken  into  the  mechan- 
ical department,  and  such  portions  of  them  as  the  architect  desires 
will  be  instantly  enlarged  to,  say,  an  inch-scale,  and  returned  to  him. 
These  enlargements  will  be  corrected  and  refined  by  him,  and  then 
still  further  mechanically  enlarged  to  full  size.  Once  more  the  archi- 
tect will  alter  and  perfect  the  final  enlargements,  after  which  all  the 
drawings  will  be  ready  for  copying  in  the  mechanical  department 
for  distribution  among  the  various  builders. 

Aided  by  this  mechanical  enlarging  process,  the  architect  will  be 
encouraged  always  to  begin  his  designs  upon  a  very  small  scale,  say 
an  eighth  or  sixteenth  of  an  inch,  following  them  up  with  many 
successive  enlargements,  by  which  process  much  greater  boldness 
and  simplicity  of  effect,  and  much  more  perfect  harmony  of  propor- 
tions are  attainable,  than  is  possible  without  the  aid  of  these 
successive  studies. 

In  this  way  the  architect  will  be  absolutely  relieved  from  all  the 
purely  mechanical  and  laborious  processes  lie  is  now  subjected  to, 
and  thus  be  free  to  devote  his  attention  to  every  detail  of  the  design. 
His  only  assistants  will  be  his  fellow  artists,  the  sculptors  and 
painters,  with  whom  he  will  be  in  constant  communication  through- 
out the  work. 

Of  course,  under  the  competitive  system  all  this  would  be  impossible. 
It  could  only  be  carried  out  by  the  aid  of  the  wealth  of  a  great 
Cooperative  Commonwealth  and  on  a  grand  scale.  Though  a  syndi- 
cate of  talented  architects  formed  on  some  such  basis  in  any  of  the 
great  cities  even  now  would  probably  meet  with  considerable  suc- 
cess both  as  a  financial  and  economical  enterprise. 

Since  architecture  is  even  to-day,  with  all  its  needless  drawbacks, 
one  of  the  most  attractive  occupations,  there  will  under  Nationalism 
when  these  drawbacks  are  removed,  be  so  large  a  number  of  aspirants 
for  its  practice  that  only  those  having  exceptional  talent  or  even 
genius  for  it  will  be  enrolled  by  the  nation.  Undoubtedly  the  prin- 
ciple of  longer  working-days  for  attractive  and  shorter  for  unattrac- 
tive occupations  will  be  adopted  by  the  Commonwealth  so  far  as 
practicable.  But  were  this  principle  alone  relied  upon  for  equaliz- 
ing the  applications,  the  days  of  the  most  attractive  ones  might  have 
to  be  prolonged  beyond  the  limit  of  healthfulness,  and  one  of  the 


54 


dangers  most  to  be  ojuarded  against  under  Nationalism  will  be  over- 
application.  Even  now  history  is  full  of  cases  of  physical  and  mental 
injury  due  to  over-application  for  love  of  work  on  the  part  of  artists 
and  talented  men;  and  under  Nationalism  the  favorable  conditions 
for  work  will  multiply  such  cases  indefinitely  unless  wise  measures 
are  taken  by  the  administration  to  provide  against  it.  The  people 
will  then  be  as  solicitous  for  the  life  and  strength  of  its  workers  in 
peace,  as  they  now  are  of  its  fighters  in  war. 

Accordingly  the  length  of  the  architect's  working-day  will  be  limited 
by  Nature's  laws  of  health,  and  it  is  certain  that  by  the  observance  of 
these  laws,  a  greater  amount  of  work  will  be  accomplished  in  the 
long  run  than  by  their  neglect.  Therefore  a  system  of  selection  for 
talent  will  govern  the  admission  into  the  architectural  ranks,  and  it 
is  in  this  manner  that  the  law  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest  will  be 
carried  out  under  Nationalism.  It  is  in  this  way  that  Nationalism 
is  seen  to  be  in  the  direct  line  of  evolution  to  a  higher  plane  of 
human  life. 

How  now  will  the  various  buildings  to  be  erected  by  the  nation  be 
distributed  among  the  national  architects  without  overworking  some 
and  underworking  others,  and  yet  in  a  manner  which  will  yield  to 
the  nation  the  full  benefit  of  the  peculiar  talents  of  each  individual. 

The  constantly  increasing  complication  in  all  industries  arising^ 
from  the  rapid  progress  of  science  and  invention  has  evolved  the 
specialist  in  the  various  professions.  As  in  medicine  the  separate 
parts  of  the  body  have  become  the  subjects  of  distinct  sciences  each 
requiring  years  of  special  application  for  its  mastery.  So  in  archi- 
tecture, special  research  and  experience  are  requisite  for  attaining 
the  best  results  in  designing  the  various  kinds  of  buildings  needed. 
Thus  the  building  of  school-houses  has  become  a  science  of  itself. 
So  it  is  with  libraries,  and  equally  with  theatres,  churches,  bridges, 
hospitals,  and,  in  short,  all  buildings  erected  for  specialists  will  re- 
quire specialists  for  their  erection. 

Yet  it  is,  all  the  same,  indispensable  that  the  specialist  should  be 
grounded  in  the  principles  of  general  practice,  and  with  this  in  view 
the  first  training  of  all  architects  is  the  same. 

The  department  of  architecture  will  then  be  divided  up  into  groups 
of  specialists,  natural  aptitude  guiding  one  individual  towards  the 
scientific  or  engineering  side  of  architecture  and  another  toward  the 
more  distinctly  aesthetic,  emotional,  or  poetic  side,  the  former  corres- 
ponding somewhat  with  the  civil  engineers  of  the  present  day  and 
the  latter  with  our  sculptors  and  painters. 

This  subdivision  into  groups  of  specialists  will  not  only  greatly  facil- 
itate the  distribution  of  work  but  it  will  form  an  element  of  harmony 
and  good  feeling  among  the  practitioners  by  excluding,  so  far,  feelings 
of  jealousy  which  might  arise  were  there  no  such  natural  distinction 
between  the  workers. 

But  a  still  further  security  against  the  growth  of  petty  rivalries 
and  jealousies  lies  in  the  fact  that  important  work  will  be  provided 
for  all  at  all  times,  and  that  it  will  be  almost  impossible  to  say  in  the 
case  of  nine-tenths  of  the  buildings  erected  under  Nationalism  which 
will  be  the  most  important,  especially  from  the  standpoint  of  the 
architect.  The  element  of  size  alone  will  not  constitute  superiority, 
for  the  smallest  buildings  may  be  dedicated  to  the  highest  purposes^ 


55 


Richness  of  material  and  decoration  alone  will  not  necessarily  open 
the  greatest  field  for  the  architect,  for  the  work  of  the  sculptor  and 
painter  will  predominate  in  these.  Importance  or  nobility  of  desti- 
nation will  not  constitute  superiority ;  for  under  Nationalism  all  forms 
of  honest  work  will  be  seen  to  be  equally  noble,  and  in  a  like  manner 
the  buildings  in  which  such  work  is  performed,  and  this  will  be 
recognized  in  its  true  relationship  when  no  longer  overshadowed  by 
the  money  estimate. 

I  fail,  therefore,  to  find  any  opportunity  under  such  a  sysfem,  for 
the  development  of  petty  jealousies  predicted  by  unbelievers  in 
Nationalism,  in  architecture  at  least.  But  I  do  find  the  amplest  in- 
centives for  the  noblest  form  of  friendly  emulation.  Natural  genius 
will,  of  course,  show  itself  in  its  works,  and  lead  to  prominence,  but 
as  soon  as  the  great  truth  is  generally  recognized,  that,  for  the 
highest  good  of  our  national  architecture,  the  individual  must  be 
made  secondary  to  his  art,  that  personality  must  be  sacrificed  for 
principle,  and  that  the  utmost  attainment  of  genius  is  the  contribu- 
tion of  a  microscopic  atom  to  the  general  progress ;  then  will  a 
jealousy  due  to  inequalities  of  natural  endowment  be  impossible,  and 
no  other  cause  for  such  a  feeling  will  exist. 

Thus  it  is  clear  that  equal  material  remuneration  among  architects 
at  least  for  equal  effort  Avill  be  a  perfectly  just  and  extremely  desir- 
able principle,  beside  relieving  artists  of  all  sordid  considerations  of 
pecuniary  emolument. 

The  interior  administration  of  our  architectural  department  will 
be  very  simple,  the  utmost  possible  freedom  from  unnecessary  re- 
strictions of  every  kind  upon  individual  action  being  aimed  at.  Each 
group  of  specialists  will  elect  from  among  its  number  its  Representa- 
tive or  Foreman,  and  these  Representatives  will  in  the  same  manner 
elect  its  Chief  of  the  District  Department  of  Architecture.  The 
duties  of  these  officers  will  be  to  place  the  buildings  to  be  erected  in 
charge  of  the  proper  architects,  to  keep  account  of  the  general  pro- 
gress of  all  work  in  their  District  and  render  a  proper  report  of  such 
work  at  proper  intervals. 

It  seems  to  me  unnecessary  to  insist  that  though  election  to  these 
offices  will  be  viewed  as  an  honor  as  implying  confidence  on  the  part 
of  the  constituents,  yet  there  will  be  nothing  in  them  of  a  nature  to 
incite  to  corrupt  practices  or  intrigue  for  their  attainment.  Indeed, 
most  true  artists  would  prefer  to  be  free  from  the  somewhat  distract- 
ing duties  and  responsibilities  attending  them. 

At  the  present  time  it  is  customary  for  the  architectural  student 
to  obtain  the  practical  part  of  his  training  by  serving  as  draughtsman 
in  some  architect's  office.  Under  Nationalism  a  far  better  and  more 
thorough  system  of  preparation  will  be  provided  for  the  young 
architect. 

A  special  Preparatory  School  of  Architecture  will  form  a  wing  of 
the  main  building  already  described,  in  which  students  will  receive 
a  complete  course  of  architectural  and  engineering  training,  theoreti- 
cal and  practical. 

This  school  will  possess  immeasurable  advantages  over  any  now  exist- 
ing in  the  -world,  or  which  could  exist  under  the  competitive  system. 

In  the  German  academies  thorough  courses  of  both  architecture 
and  engineering  are  given  under  the  same  roof  open  to  all. 


56 


The  leading  practising  architects  of  the  country  are  employed  to 
give  lectures  and  practical  courses  of  instruction  at  the  schools  at 
certain  hours,  usually  each  instructor  giving  from  four  to  eight 
hours  a  week  to  this  work. 

The  principle  of  instruction  in  the  French  Academy  at  Paris,  is 
very  different  from  the  German.  Distinguished  practising  architects 
give  courses  of  instruction,  it  is  true,  but  it  is  a  matter  of  etiquette 
for  a  pupil  to  confine  himself  to  a  single  instructor  during  the  whole 
academical  course.  The  result  is  that  the  student  sees  very  little  of 
the  master,  and  depends  for  his  advancement  substantially  upon  the 
emulation  existing  among  the  pupils  themselves,  and  the  example  of 
the  most  proficient  among  them.  Such  a  method  of  instruction  may 
be  good  for  the  })ainter  and  sculptor,  but  for  the  architect  it  is  totally 
inadequate. 

In  both  academies,  regular  monthly  or  quarterly  competitions 
among  the  pupils  on  a  given  programme  constitute  prominent  features 
of  the  course. 

Our  nationalist  school  will  retain  whatever  features  are  good  in 
both  French  and  German  schools. 

The  "  concours  "  will  be  retained,  but  instead  of  being  competi- 
tions for  the  solution  of  some  programme  arbitrarily  composed  for 
the  occasion,  they  will  be  competitions  for  the  solution  of  pro- 
grammes for  buildings  actually  to  be  executed  for  the  nation  by  the 
practising  architects  themselves  who  constitute  the  Board  of  Instruc- 
tors in  the  Academy.  As  in  the  German  schools  now,  the  practising 
architects  under  Nationalism  will  give  courses  of  lectures  and  of  in- 
struction in  design  to  the  students  in  the  adjoining  building,  as  a  reg- 
ular j)art  of  their  professional  duties,  devoting  thereto,  perhaps  each 
from  four  to  eight  or  more  hours  a  week.  The  course  in  design  will 
consist  in  the  practising  architect  giving  his  pupils  for  a  programme 
the  actual  building  (no  architect  having  charge  of  more  than  one 
building  at  any  time)  he  is  himself  commissioned  to  erect  at  that  time. 
The  programme  will  be  presented  to  his  pupils  after  he  has  prepared 
his  first  working-drawings  precisely  as  it  was  presented  to  him  by 
the  administration,  with  such  additional  explanations  as  he  may  deem 
necessary  for  his  pupils;  and  after  they  have  completed  their  draw- 
ings, each  will  have  the  advantage  of  comparing  them  not  only  with 
those  of  their  fellow-pupils,  but  still  better  with  those  of  the  master 
himself  as  prepared  for  actual  execution.  The  importance  of  this 
feature  of  our  academical  course  as  a  means  of  inducing  a  serious, 
intelligent  and  practical  study  of  their  plans  on  the  part  of  the  stu- 
dent is  inestimable.  The  training  at  once  assumes  the  attractiveness 
of  reality,  and  both  pupil  and  master  are  immensely  benefited  at  the 
same  time.  The  architect  acquires  the  invaluable  habit  of  expres- 
sing his  ideas  in  the  clearest  manner  by  word  and  pencil,  and  is 
obliged  to  have  a  good  reason  for  every  architectural  form  which  the 
conditions  of  the  problem  have  evolved.  Everything  must  be  truth- 
ful, logical  and  refined  in  his  design  in  order  that  it  may  serve  as  a 
perfect  model  for  his  pupils.  On  the  other  hand,  any  peculiarly  happy 
points  which  may  be  developed  by  the  studies  of  the  pupils  will  be 
gladly  incorporated  by  the  architect  in  the  plans  to  be  executed,  such 
adoption  not  only  encouraging  and  gratifying  the  pride  of  the  stu- 
dent but  benefiting  the  public  as  well. 


57 


After  the  plans  are  completed  and  during  the  erection  of  the  build- 
ing, an  important  part  of  our  course  of  instruction  will  consist  in  the 
inspection  of  the  work  by  the  pupils  under  the  architect's  guidance 
and  explanations,  from  time  to  time  as  the  work  progresses. 

Thus  the  training  of  the  architectural  student  for  his  professional 
work  will  be  scientifically  conducted  in  the  most  thorough  manner 
both  theoretically  and  practically.  He  receives  instruction  not  from 
one  architect  alone  but  from  many,  all  working  harmoniously  together 
in  one  style,  the  national  style,  and  all  interested  in  his  progress. 

The  haphazard  and  superficial  instruction  which  the  student  of 
to-day  receives  as  a  draughtsman  in  his  wanderings  from  office  to 
office',  picking-up  here  a  little  and  there  a  little,  copying  letters,  run- 
ning errands,  tracing  ill-digested  plans  which  he  only  half  under- 
stands, and  perhaps  never  sees  executed,  haggling  for  an  increase  in 
his  salary,  and  ever  harassed  by  petty  rivalries  and  jealousies,  will 
be  happily  done  away  with  forever. 

The  various  building  trades  will  work  in  harmony  with  the  archi- 
tects. Like  them  they  will  be  divided  into  specialists  in  each  great 
department.  Thus  in  the  mason's  trade,  the  same  individual  will 
take  charge  of  the  masonry  of  the  same  kind  of  building  as  a  spec- 
ialist in  that  class,  and  in  this  way  builders  and  architects  in  the 
same  class  will  become  personally  acquainted  with  one  another  and 
with  their  peculiar  work,  and  the  work  of  both  be  thereby  facilitated ' 
and  improved.  The  specifications  of  the  architect  as  to  the  materials 
to  be  used  will  consist  simply  in  designating  these  materials  through 
their  numbered  samp'es  in  the  great  sample-store  adjoining  the  build- 
ing: of  the  department  of  architecture.  The  same  numbers  will  be 
affixed  to  the  samples  published  in  the  great  national  catalogues, 
so  that  the  builder  will  be  obliged  only  to  refer  to  these  to  enable 
him  to  carry  out  the  terms  of  the  specification  to  the  letter.  The 
builders  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  estimating  the  cost  of  the 
structures.  This  will  be  done  by  specialists  in  the  architectural  de- 
partment. Nor  will  the  builder  nor  any  of  the  workmen  have  any- 
thing to  do  with  contracts  or  payments  of  any  form  whatever  con- 
nected with  the  building.  The  specification  of  the  architect  properly 
signed  by  him  and  countersigned  by  the  head  of  his  department,  will 
constitute  the  order  of  the  builder  upon  the  national  supply-depart- 
ment for  building  materials.  All  the  details  for  the  stone-cutting 
will  be  made  by  the  architect.  The  builder  will  have  nothing  to  do 
with  the  stone-cutters.  These  will  be  employed  by  the  government 
directly  at  the  quarries  where  the  details  of  the  architect  will  be 
carried  out.  In  this  manner  all  waste  of  stone  and  cost  of  transport- 
ing the  rough  material  will  be  avoided.  It  will  be  the  same  way 
with  the  framing  which  will  be  cut  and  fitted  at  the  mills. 

The  builder  will  take  the  place  of  the  clerk-of-the- works  of  to-day, 
and  have  charge,  under  the  architect,  of  all  the  workmen  employed 
on  the  building,  entirely  relieving  the  architect  of  any  responsibility 
for  delays  and  inaccuracies  not  due  to  errors  in  the  plans.  All 
the  workmen  will,  of  course,  be  on  a  financial  equality,  and  they 
will  be  subjected  only  to  such  discipline  as  is  necessary  to  the 
proper  conduct  of  the  work.  The  officers  will  consist  simply  of  the 
builder  or  chief  of  the  works,  and  the  foremen  in  the  different  trades, 
who  will  see  that  the  men  are  provided  with  materials  and  that  they 


58 


use  these  materials  properly  and  economically,  and  do  their  duty 
generally.  Gross  carelessness  and  indolence  will  be  reported  and 
punished  by  reduction  of  remuneration  and  by  such  other  means  a& 
may  be  found  most  effective. 

It  is  likely  that  before  Nationalism  can  be  introduced  in  its  com- 
plete and  perfect  form,  machinery  will  have  supplanted  most  or  all 
of  the  most  disagreeable  parts  of  the  builder's  work,  such  as  convey- 
ing the  heavy  materials  from  the  ground  to  the  parts  of  the  building 
where  they  are  to  be  finally  laid.  But  even  tlien  there  will  for  a  long 
time  be  no  lack  of  men  incapable  of  doing  the  difficult  and  more  in- 
tellectual parts  of  the  construction.  These  will  be  glad  of  the  oppor- 
tunity to  perform  the  purel}'  mechanical  operations,  uneducated 
foreigners  will,  so  far  as  the  immigration  laws  will  allow,  flock  to 
the  nation  which  first  adopts  a  rational  system  of  industry  and  under- 
take such  forms  of  labor  as  will  be  found  arduous  by  the  natives 
under  the  high  grade  of  cultivation  such  a  system  will  furnish,  before 
suitable  machinery  shall  have  been  invented  as  a  substitute. 

The  kind  of  work  which  will  remain  after  machinery  and  foreigners 
have  undertaken  the  most  arduous  and  mechanical  parts,  will  be  a 
high  grade  of  skilled  labor,  involving  perhaps  hs  long  a  course  of  pre- 
paratory education  and  as  mucli  ability,  though  of  a  different  kind, 
as  the  various  professions,  and  deserving  of  as  high  a  material 
reward. 


'EX   who  would  resent 
the    shghtest  imputa- 
tion of   injustice,  dis- 
honor  or    cruelty  in  their 
private  dealings,  yet  partici- 
pate in  a  great  injustice  and 
r^f^^  "^7"  '"'^T^^^^J  ;>\'  cruelty  towards  their  poorer 

y-^    fa!L_J   ^T-^^=;'^  |_ , .  . ,  .gi ,  /  ••  or  less  gifted  fellow  beings, 

lt:,KHi r■^M^k^i^' '  H'/^'i  ■  U^-  .  simply  because  their  atten- 
tion has  not  been  called  to 
the  fact.  Their  opinions  on 
all  great  moral  and  social 
questions  are  hereditary  and 
conservative  rather  than  in- 
dependent and  progressive, 
and  the  obvious  and  in- 
evitable result  of  this  is  that  these  opinions  do  not  keep  pace  with  the 
progress  of  events. 

The  tremendous  advances  in  science,  invention  and  concentration 
of  capital  made  within  the  last  twenty  years,  have  created  a  veritable 
revolution  in  industrial  and  social  conditions.  But  there  has  been 
no  corresponding  revolution  in  ideas. 

There  is  no  longer  free  competition  as  formerly.  Monopoly,  its  logical 
offspring,  has  almost  strangled  its  progenitor,  and  the  result  is  that  a 
few  men  have  obtained  such  absolute  control  over  the  rest  that  they 
are  able  to  exact  from  them  for  the  privilege  of  existing,  a  very  large 
percentage  of  the  product  of  their  labor,  the  machinery  of  produc- 
tion being  held  in  the  grasp  of  the  few.  This  is  a  fact  which  is  disputed 
by  no  one  and  which  admits  of  no  dispute.  The  simple  question  then, 
is,  whether  this  condition  of  things  is  right  or  wrong.  If  it  is  right, 
then  Nationalism  has  no  other  justification  than  that  of  good  policy. 
If  it  is  wrong  then  it  becomes  the  duty  of  every  one  as  participating 
in  that  wrong  to  aid  in  uprooting  it,  and  in  substituting  for  it  a  system 
founded  upon  justice,  irrespective  of  any  selfish  feelings  of  indifference 
or  imaginary  personal  injury,  which  may  stand  in  his  way.  But 
since  modern  civilization  has  admitted  slavery  to  be  wrong,  the  modern 
social  system  is  proved  to  be  wrong  the  moment  we  prove  its  inevit- 
able consequence  to  be  industrial  and  moral  slavery,  and  the  magni- 
tude of  the  wrong  becomes  evident  when  we  realize  the  magnitude 
of  the  evils  such  slavery  induces. 


60 


Returning  to  our  previous  illustration,  the  descendants  of  the 
•patriotic  citizen,  A,  reduced  to  poverty,  are  able  to  obtain  only  a 
limited  education.  There  are  thousands  of  families  to-day  in  this 
country  who  are  too  poor  to  give  their  children  a  common  school 
education.  The  product  of  their  labor  is  necessary  for  the  support 
of  the  family.  TJius  the  descendants  of  our  citizen  A  are  predes- 
tined to  earn  a  miserable  pittance  in  the  street  or  factory,  subjected 
to  a  thousand  evil  influences,  which  their  overworked  parents  are  in- 
capable, through  ignorance  and  want  of  leisure,  of  counteracting. 
The  tendency  is  inevitably  downward'  because  the  aggregate  of  in- 
fluence resulting  from  extreme  ignorance  and  poverty  is  evil.  Living 
from  hand  to  mouth,  they  are  bound  to  accept  any  conditions  imposed 
upon  them  by  their  employers,  simply  because  they  have  no  reserve 
funds  to  sustain  them  while  seeking  employment  elsewhere.  Misfor- 
tune leads  to  discouragement,  and  discouragement  to  intemperanca, 
suicide  and  crime. 

The  descendants  of  B,  on  the  other  hand,  are  subjected  to  other 
evils  influences  likewise  tending  to  degradation  through  precisely 
the  opposite  causes.  Extreme  wealth  tempts  to  indolence,  arrogance, 
selfishness,  and  general  moral  and  physical  degeneracy. 

The  contact  of  these  two  extremes  of  society  breeds  every  form 
of  ill  feeling  and  stirs  up  the  lowest  passions  of  which  human  nature 
is  capable ;  and  if  the  causes  which  brought  these  extremes  into 
existence  and  which  foster  their  growth  are  allowed  to  exist  very 
much  longer,  the  disease  in  the  social  state  will  pass  beyond  govern- 
ment control  and  culminate  in  general  disaster. 

Nationalists  believe  that  justice  and  wisdom  alike  point  to  the 
necessity  of  meeting  the  inevitable  in  a  manly  and  straightforward 
manner;  of  admitting  the  injustice  of  the  present  conditions  and 
endeavoring  to  effect  a  cure  by  peaceful  means. 

There  is  nothing  more  certain  than  that  every  individual  is  en- 
titled to  the  full  value  of  his  labor  whether  mental  or  manual.  This 
is  only  possible  when  the  people  themselves  own  the  whole  machinery 
of  production,  because  so  long  as  society  sanctions  the  private  mono- 
})oly  of  machinery,  its  owners  are  expected  to  appropriate  a  part  of 
the  labor  of  their  employes  as  a  return  for  the  use  of  that  machinery. 

By  what  process  did  the  machinery  become  the  exclusive  property 
of  certain  individuals  rather  than  of  the  community  as  a  whole? 

C,  D  and  E  are  scientific  investigators  and  philosophers  having  a 
passion  for  the  study  of  natural  laws,  purely  for  the  knowledge  itself, 
without  reference  to  the  application  of  these  laws  to  the  industrial 
arts,  nor  to  their  own  material  welfare,  and,  accordingly,  they  freely 
publish  their  discoveries  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole  (iommunity.  F 
is  a  practical  mechanic  quick  in  turning  the  discoveries  of  others  to 
practical  uses  and  shrewd  in  directing  these  uses  to  his  own  emolu- 
ment. He  closely  follows  the  researches  of  C,  D  and  E,  and  seizes 
upon  the  most  important  results  which  they  obtain,  producing  by 
means  thereof  a  patentable  labor-saving  machine  whereby  he  is 
enabled  to  monopolize  the  fruit  not  only  of  his  own  labor,  but  of  that 
of  C,  D  and  E  as  well,  although  the  latter  may  have  formed  nine- 
tenths  of  the  value  of  the  machine.  But  the  labor  of  C,  D  and  E 
was  given  by  them  in  their  publications  to  the  community,  and  F 
had  no  intrinsic  right  to  that  part  of  the  machine  which  was  due 


61 


thereto.  Custom  has,  however,  given  him  this  right  in  disregard  of 
justice. 

Now  C,  D  and  E  represent  the  whole  civilized  community  and  F 
an  individual  member  thereof.  Every  invention  or  production  of 
anv  kind  made  nominally  by  an  individual  is  really  the  production  of 
the  individual  aided  hy  the  community,  hy  civilization,  and  that  part  of 
it  which  is  due  to  civilization,  by  far  the  greater  part,  should  clearly 
become  the  property  of  the  community.  Hence  the  justice  of  Nation- 
ahsm. 

Is  it  also  wise  ? 

All  recognize  the  fact  that  a  wide-spread  discontent  now  exists 
among  the  working-classes  throughout  the  entire  civilized  world,  a 
discontent  which  has  assumed  unprecedented  proportions,  and  is  yet 
daily  increasing  ;  which  shows  itself  in  the  formation  everywhere  of 
labor  unions,  and  combinations  of  all  kinds  for  mutual  protection  and 
concerted  action;  in  the  appearance  of  hundreds  of  books,  papers 
and  periodicals  published  in  the  interest  of  labor,  and  devoted  solely 
to  the  discussion  of  the  condition  of  the  laborer  and  social  wrongs  ; 
in  the  general  agitation  of  the  labor  question  in  all  the  leading  maga- 
zines and  periodicals  of  the  day;  in  strikes,  lockouts  and  all  kinds 
of  labor  troubles,  and  finally  in  many  forms  of  violent  insubordina- 
tion, disorder,  and  riot. 

Those  who  refuse  to  shut  their  eyes  upon  these  facts,  recognize 
that  the  causes  for  them  are  daily  increasing,  and  that  intelligent  and 
prompt  action  should  be  taken  to  direct  the  great  popular  movement 
in  the  right  channels.  Leaving  it  to  itself  is  equivalent  to  leaving  it 
to  those  who  are  most  interested  in  the  change,  and  least  fitted  to 
direct  it  —  the  wage-earners.  This  course  was  tried  in  France  a 
hundred  years  ago,  and  it  is  the  part  of  wisdom  to  profit  by  that 
lesson  and  avoid  the  possibility  of  its  repetition.  Strikes  and  riots 
are  expensive  to  the  strikers  as  well  as  to  the  public,  and  had  the 
money  spent  in  them  during  the  last  twenty  years  been  devoted  to 
the  wiser  service  of  educating  the  people  in  the  principles  of  National- 
ism, our  Cooperative  Commonwealth  might  have  been  realized  to-day. 

Much  as  has  been  said  by  critics  as  to  the  impossibility  of  attain- 
ing a  speedy  realization  of  such  an  ideal,  yet  the  moment  we  begin  to 
reflect  upon  the  vast  economies  effected  by  cooperation,  the  diffi- 
culties which  at  first  thought  appeared  overwhelming  begin  one  by  one 
to  vanish.  We,  are  dealing,  moreover,  it  must  be  remembered,  not 
with  a  system  in  which  every  individual,  or  small  body  of  individuals, 
is  engaged  independently  in  a  constant  conflict  with  all  the  rest,  to 
regulate  which,  even  partially,  requires  the  ablest  statesmanship,  but 
rather  with  a  system  of  cooperation  so  simple  as  to  resemble  a 
beautiful  piece  of  machinery,  having  a  thousand  parts  moving  in 
perfect  harmony  and  with  irresistible  power,  but  which  can  yet  be 
guided  by  the  simplest  mechanism. 

I  have  stated  as  my  belief  that  over  nine-tenths  of  the  energy  now 
exerted  is  wasted.  I  should  also  have  stated  that  my  authority  for  the 
wastes  due  to  the  item  of  travelling  salesmen  was  the  United  States 
Census  for  1880  and  the  following  calculations  by  Mr.  Edward  H.  San- 
born, of  the  United  States  Census  Staff :  "  Careful  estimates  from  a 
variety  of  reliable  sources,  place  the  number  of  commercial  travellers 
in  this  country  at  250,000.    Their  railroad  fares,  express  or  freight 


62 


upon  baggage,  hotel-bills,  and  incidental  expenses  range  from  $4  to  Si  2 
and  more  a  day,  averaging  about  $6  daily.  Salaries  range  upwards 
from  $900  a  year.  Thousands  of  men  earn  S2,000  and  $2,500  a  year ; 
a  smaller  number  receive  salaries  between  $3,000  and  $5,000,  while  a 
comparative  few  are  paid  from  $5,000  to  $15,000,  and  in  rare  instances 
even  more.  Of  course,  as  in  every  field  of  employment,  the  lower 
salaries  are  vastly  in  the  majority,  and  $1,800  a  year  is  a  fair 
average.  Let  us  see  what  these  figures  will  give  us  lor  the  cost  of 
this  single  element  in  competition.  The  expenses  of  250,000 
travelling  men  at  $6  a  day  amount  to  $1,500,000  daily,  or  $547,500- 
000  in  365  days.  Then  the  salaries  of  250,000  men  averaged  at 
$1,800  a  year  aggregate  $450,000,000,  so  that  the  two  items  of 
salaries  and  travelling  expenses  to  be  charged  against  the  commercial 
traveller  mount  up  to  the  astonishing  total  of  $997,500,000  a  year. 
JSTor  is  this  all.  In  nearly  every  branch  of  business  each  man  must 
be  provided  with  his  outfit  of  trunks,  sample  cases,  and  his  more  or 
less  complete  line  of  samples.  To  give  accurate  figures  or  even 
approximate  estimates  in  this  direction  is  a  hopeless  task  and  I  shall 
not  attempt  it;  but  here  are  a  few  facts  to  stimulate  speculation.  A 
salesman  who  handles  a  general  line  of  dry  goods,  '  notions '  and 
'small  wares,'  requires  an  outfit  costing  from  $50  to  $200,  in  addition 
to  which  the  samples  that  he  carries  in  a  single  year  cost  from  $1,000 
to  $2,000.  Some  of  these  samples  are  sold  subsequently,  while  others 
become  worthless,  or  are  lost  altogether.  To  cover  losses  of  this 
character,  it  is  customary  to  make  an  allowance  of  thirty-three  and 
one-third  per  cent,  of  the  actual  cost  of  the  samples.  Now  it  may 
readily  be  seen  that  a  concern  employing  fifty  to  a  hundred  travel- 
ling salesmen  —  and  there  are  many  at  the  latter  figure- —  is  under  an 
enormous  expense  in  reaching  its  customers,  not  to  mention  such 
minor  matters  as  store  expenses,  interest  upon  capital,  etc.  •  This 
item  of  over  $1,000,000  000  charged  annually  to  the  account  of  the 
travelling  man,  is  paid  by  the  purchaser  at  retail,  or  consumer.  And 
the  expensive  luxury  of  this  form  of  competition  brings  neither 
advantage  to  the  purchaser,  nor  profit  to  the  merchant,  in  the  long 
run.  Were  there  not  a  travelling  salesman  upon  the  road  to-day,  the 
aggregate  sales  of  merchandise  would  be  likely  as  large  as  at  present, 
and  at  lower  prices  the  merchant  would  reap  even  greater  profits 
than  he  now  makes.  The  aggregate  volume  of  business  represents 
what  is  necessary  to  supply  the  people's  wants,  and  with  or  without 
travelling  salesmen  the  wants  of  the  people  will  be  supplied.  The  trav- 
elling salesman  influences  the  aggregate  volume  of  business  but 
little,  one  way  or  the  other.  His  only  accomplishment  is  to  enhance 
the  cost  of  needful  commodities  and  to  cultivate  extravagance,  by 
forcing  the  sale  of  goods  not  actually  needed  by  the  purchasers. 
But  so  long  as  one  firm  sends  out  its  travellers,  others  and  all  must  do 
likewise." 

Accordingly,  taking  into  consideration  all  these  great  wastes  of  the 
competitive  system  and  all  the  possible  gains  in  productiveness  which 
general  cooperation  will  permit  as  suggested  in  these  pages,  I  believe 
that  the  increase  of  National  wealth  through  Nationalism  will  be 
nearer  twenty  than  ten  fold.  Should  a  more  exhaustive  study  in  this 
direction  aided  by  more  accurate  and  comprehensive  census  reports 
prove  that  this  belief  is  well  founded,  then  will  it  follow  that  a  single 


63 


year's  production  under  Nationalism  will  be  more  than  sufficient  to  pay 
for  all  the  plant  needed  by  the  Nation  for  conducting  its  own  business. 
The  problem  of  the  practical  introduction  of  Nationalism  will  then 
be  viewed  in  a  new  light.  The  substitution  of  a  different  system  of 
industry  will  be  no  longer  a  question  of  possibility  or  advisability,  but 
will  become  a  question  of  method.  ^ 

Since  the  work  must  be  done  without  disturbing  the  wheels  of 
industry,  severing  social  ties,  or  doing  injustice  to  any  individual, 
it  will  be  necessary  to  make  use  of  the  existing  industrial  ma- 
chinery at  first,  gradually  supplanting  this  by  better  as  convenience 
and  experience  dictate. 

The  acquisition  by  the  people  of  the  means  of  production  can  be 
accomplished  by  existing  methods,  by  purchase  at  assessed  valua- 
tion or  by  right  of  eminent  domain,  payment  being  made  in  bonds, 
the  details  of  the  transaction  being  regulated  somewhat  after  the 
manner  of  the  formation  of  the  great  combinations  and  trusts  of 
to-day.  In  the  purchase  of  railroad  and  other  stock  and  bonds 
which  rest  on  Government  franchise,  the  value  of  the  grants  and 
franchise  will  be  included  in  the  amount  paid,  since  these  fran- 
chises, once  granted  by  the  Government  and  included  in  the  mar- 
ket value  of  such  stock,  and  afterwards  purchased  in  good  faith 
by  the  public,  have  become  as  fairly  the  property  of  these  pur- 
chasers as  any  other  objects  of  value  connected  with  the  property, 
and  a  gift  or  promise  made  by  our  Government  should  be  held 
sacred  even  though  such  gift  or  joromise  may  have,  in  the  opinion  of 
some,  been  unwisely  made. 

In  the  same  way  such  land  as  may  be  required,  will  be  purchased 
at  its  actual  market  value,  proved  by  careful  appraisal. 

Factories  and  mercantile  buildings  will  evidently  at  once  become 
useless  to  their  present  owners,  since  no  one  could  compete  with  a 
Government  capable  of  paying  the  large  dividend  to  its  employes, 
which  we  have  shown  to  result  from  so  gigantic  a  combination,  and 
these  buildings  will  be  gladly  turned  over  to  the  new  administration 
for  their  value.  But  dwellings  and  improved  estates  held  for  per- 
sonal use  and  not  for  speculation,  with  which  the  owners  are 
unwilling  to  part,  will  simply  be  valued  and  left  in  their  possession. 
The  amount  of  land  now  so  held  for  personal  use  as  homes,  how- 
ever, is  very  small  compared  with  the  vast  territory  held  for  farm- 
ing, forestry,  railroads,  manufacturing  and  speculative  purposes,  all 
of  which  could  be  purchased  by  the  nation  at  a  fair  valuation. 

A  portion  of  our  immensely  increased  annual  wealth  production 
could  be  devoted  each  year  to  redeeming  these  bonds.  Thus  every 
property-holder  would  receive  the  full  value  of  his  property  in  Gov- 
ernment securities  exchangeable  for  any  kind  of  wealth  produced  by 
the  nation. 

During  the  time  which  will  intervene  between  the  substantial  accept- 
ance by  the  people  of  the  principles  of  Nationalism,  and  its  practical 

1  All  our  calculations,  have  been  based  on  the  amount  of  wealth  production  at 
the  time  of  the  Census  of  18  0.  It  is  well-known  that  in  the  last  ten  years  machin- 
ery has  immensely  increased  the  economy  of  production,  and,  under'the  favorable 
auspices  of  Nationalism,  such  increase  must  be  very  much  more  rapid.  These 
figures  and  considerations  would  place  the  annual  income  of  each  adult  In- 
dividual, man  and  woman,  under  Nationalism  at  considerably  over  the  equivalent 
of  six  thousand  dollars,  and  would  permit  of  a  great  diminution  of  the  length  of 
the  average  working-day. 


64 


adoption  in  its  entirety,  the  industries  successively  placed  under 
National  Control  will  necessarily  be  administered  more  and  more  on 
the  principles  of  reformed  civil  service,  because  it  will  become  more 
and  more  for  the  interest  of  all  to  have  this  so. 

The  nationalization  of  all  industries  will  bring  about  such  reform 
as  an  inevitable  consequence,  because  it  will  substitute  for  the  pres- 
ent cause  of  corruption — private  monopoly — public  monopoly 
wherein  the  interests  of  all  will  be  identical,  a  monopoly  which  in 
directing  legislation  and  acting  for  itself  will  thereby  necessarily  act 
for  the  whole  people. 


NOW  READY, 


Saved  by  Nationalism, 

By  H.  B.  Salisbury. 


This  story,  which  first  appeared  in  the  October  NATIO^- 
ALIST,  is  reproduced  in  pamphlet  form,  and  will  be  found  a 
very  effective  document  by  those  who  wish  to  convince  their 
friends,  in  an  attractive  and  entertaining  manner,  of  the 
evils  of  industrial  and  commercial  competition,  and  of  the 
advantages  of  co-operation. 

The  reader  is  introduced  to  a  New  England  village,  in  its 
primitive  condition  of  contented  sleepiness,  before  the 
demon  Avarice  has  corroded  the  souls  of  its  inhabitants. 
This  condition  lasts  until  a  railroad  corporation,  by  the 
customary  artifices  of  its  agents,  rouses  the  people  to  a 
desire  for  change,  and  by  the  usual  methods,  obtains  the 
necessary  powers  for  carrying  out  its  project.  Next  is  seen 
"the  village  as  it  is;"  ruined  by  the  system  of  commer- 
cialism which  the  railroad  has  brought  into  operation, 
worked  as  it  is  in  the  interest  of  its  stockholders  and  not 
in  that  of  the  people  generally.  At  length  co-operation 
forces  competition  from  its  supremacy,  and  nationalism 
brings  peace  and  prosperity  to  the  community,  rebuilds 
demolished  houses,  fertilizes  abandoned  farms,  finds  con- 
genial occupation  for  each  inhabitant,  and  increases  the 
wealth  of  the  whole  people. 

Price  5  cents. 
A  liberal  discount  to  purchasers  of  ten  or  more  copies. 

BOSTON : 

THE  NATIONALIST  EDUCATIONAL  ASSOCIATION, 
No.  77  BoYLSTON  Street. 


